VOL. CLXXI NO. 63
MOSTLY SUNNY HIGH 45 LOW 23
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
Events to raise awareness of sexual violence By ERICA BUONANNO The Dartmouth Staff
SPORTS
FIGURE SKATING TAKES THIRD AT NATIONALS PAGE 8
OPINION
KIM: POORLY PLANNED POLICY PAGE 4
ARTS
ADAMS ’11 PROMOTES IMPROV FILM PAGE 7
Sexual Assault Awareness Month, dedicated to raising awareness of sexual violence and its effect on the community, will hold new and regular programming throughout next week. Movement Against Violence, formerly known as Mentors Against Violence, will facilitate student discussions about what campus sexual violence prevention could look like. The third Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault Symposium kicked off Sexual Assault Awareness Month earlier in April. The Center for Gender and Student Eng agement will host a T-shirt-making event today for the Clothesline Project, a movement to boost awareness about relationship and sexual violence. This year’s events will
encourage students to become more involved in changing the culture surrounding sexual violence. “We want to move more towards individuals recognizing their role and trying to move past just being aware and saying, ‘How can I get involved?’” MAV co-director Alex Leach ’14 said. “‘How am I a part of this culture? How can I work to change the culture into a place where this doesn’t happen and it’s not okay?’” Leach added that she hopes the programing will give participants the necessary tools to help survivors and show that the College community is there to support them. The T-shirts decorated today will hang in the Collis atrium throughout the week, a project that has existed at the College since the 1990s. SEE AWARENESS PAGE 2
‘Enough is enough’: Hanlon talks social scene at summit
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College President Phil Hanlon spoke at last night’s summit on improving campus and reducing harm.
B y Amelia Rosch The Dartmouth Staff
Over 120 community leaders gathered in Dartmouth Hall for an invitationonly summit last night to discuss ways to end harmful behavior, including sexual violence, high-risk drinking
and exclusion in campus social spaces. The summit, which College President Phil Hanlon announced in a campus-wide email Wednesday afternoon, included speeches and breakout sessions for discussion and brainstorming. Hanlon also announced the creation of a presidential
steering committee of students, faculty, administrators and alumni that will examine the three areas of harmful behavior he identified. The committee, whose members will be named in April, will present its findings at the NoSEE SUMMIT PAGE 5
Three seniors finish yearlong independent study program
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A student helped out at yesterday’s Pop-Up Bike Shop.
This year’s senior fellows, Rena Sapon-White ’14, Aaron Colston ’14 and Miriam Kilimo ’14, are currently finishing their projects and preparing to present them publicly on May 6. Instead of taking classes, these students have spent the past year conducting in-depth research in destinations from Poland to Kenya. The 84-year-old senior fellowship program allows participants, who ap-
ply in the spring of their junior year, to devote a full year of study to a largescale project in lieu of completing other academic requirements. Senior fellowships take on various forms, from theater projects to creative writing, program director Margaret Funnell said. While students can pursue work that could not be achieved in a traditional thesis, she said, they also continue to benefit from the guidance of a College advisory program. SEE FELLOWS PAGE 3
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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DAily debriefing BROWN UNIVERSITY: According to a recent poll, just over half of Brown undergraduates said legacy status should not be considered in admissions decisions, The Brown Daily Herald reported. Of the 1,033 students surveyed, 32.5 percent said they “somewhat disagree” with the practice, while 17.6 percent said they “strongly disagree.” COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Six Columbia professors were awarded this year’s John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships, allowing them to pursue individual projects, the Columbia Spectator reported. The winners are among a group of 178 fellows from across the U.S. and Canada, chosen from a pool of nearly 3,000 applicants. CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Cornell formed a council on hazing prevention, the Cornell Daily Sun reported. In addition to the Greek system, the council will focus on athletic teams, clubs and academic groups. HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Harvard held a day of remembrance on Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, the Harvard Crimson reported. On boards set up outside, students wrote messages to first responders and law enforcement officials who assisted in the aftermath of the bombing. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Princeton and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory received a five-year, $3.5 million grant for nuclear research, the Daily Princetonian reported. It will continue the development of a protocol for testing a warhead’s nuclear content. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: At last weekend’s annual Spring Fling, 22 students were hospitalized for alcohol-related reasons. The weekend tallied 78 “Fling-related incidents,” including criminal investigations and disturbances, loud parties, citations and alcohol transports. The total was below the 99 incidents in 2012, and a slight increase from last year’s 72 reported incidents. YALE UNIVERSITY: Some Yale faculty positions, called “slots,” are likely to start being grouped in a common pool. A statement from the Academic Review Committee, designed to review the allocation of faculty positions across the university, also recommended forming a new committee on faculty resources and keeping the number of faculty fixed.
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
Awareness events to begin next week FROM AWARENESS PAGE 1
“In light of the ongoing campus discussions that have been so prevalent as of late, I’m grateful we as a community have this opportunity to affirm our support for survivors and discuss sexual violence on our campus in the safe spaces provided by Sexual Assault Awareness Month,” Holli Weed ’14, who has worked extensively to combat sexual assault on campus, said in an email. Weed added that she appreciates that the series of events provides quality programming and opportunities for discussion every year. The annual Take Back the Night rally and march will be held Tuesday, following Monday’s postermaking session for the event. The rally, part of a national campaign that promotes every individual’s right to walk without the threat of sexual assault or harassment, will feature speeches followed by a march around campus. After the march, students can share thoughts and reflections on the Green, Leach said. “I think it would be really powerful to see an increased number of people to show campus has changed and progressed to a place where people want to take part,” she said.
Sexual assault peer advisor Alice Morrison ’14 said she thinks Take Back the Night will be more powerful and more enthusiastic this year because it can serve as a public platform for issues of sexual assault. Denim Day, to be held Wednes-
“We’ve heard a lot of interest from people, and sexual assault is obviously a very spoken about topic, so we thought it would be great to open up a conversation to anyone who wants to join on campus.” - Jill Horing ’15, mav co-director day, encourages students to wear denim as part of a national campaign, which started around 15 years ago after the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction because the alleged victim wore tight jeans. The campaign protests the court decision, when
justices said the alleged victim must have given consent by helping remove her jeans. MAV will hold its facilitations about a year after last year’s day of canceled classes, seeking to continue the conversations that began that day, MAV co-director Jill Horing ’15 said. “In the past what we’ve done is just go into Greek houses and do facilitations with the members, but we’ve heard a lot of interest from people, and sexual assault is obviously a very spoken about topic, so we thought it would be great to open up a conversation to anyone who wants to join on campus,” she said. Horing said the facilitations, held three times during the day, will revolve around a discussionbased model and prompt students to think of potential methods for preventing sexual violence. Leach said MAV facilitations will show that campus is ready to see how individuals can change the culture around sexual assault. “How to Help a Friend” is the last event of the week. The program, hosted by SAPA members and sexual assault awareness program coordinator Rebekah Carrow, will teach participants how to react if a friend discloses that he or she has experienced sexual violence.
LET THEM EAT PIE
– COMPILED BY SAMANTHA WEBSTER FOR DARTBEAT
Corrections We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com. “With new tactics, senior class gift campaign kicks off ” (April 16, 2014): The date of the kick-off barbecue is April 27, not April 28.
JIN LEE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Students enjoyed free pies from Lou’s Restaurant and Bakery at Kwame’s Open Mic last night.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
PAGE 3
Three senior fellows conclude yearlong research program to define because there are many Jewish people who lack a Polish “There is no such thing as a typical identity and many Polish people who senior fellowship,” she said. discovered their Jewish identities later Sapon-White said she decided to in life. pursue a documentary film after visit- In his project, Colston combined ing her father in Poland for five weeks. poetry and historical research. HavIn Warsaw, she interviewed a dozen ing attended a small Catholic high people about their Jewish identities school in Los Angeles, Colston said and wanted to learn more about he has always been interested in the what it meant to ways old instibe Jewish in Potutions, includland today. Be- “I fill in the silences ing Catholic cause World War with poetry to sort schools, have II and commuaddressed the of illuminate how nism forced many contemporeligious Jews to our ways of doing rary needs of leave the country, history kind of leave underserved those remaining in communiPoland today con- us with this mystery ties. front a “confusing of our knowledge of Colston fodual understandcused the the past. It’s not just Oblate onSisters ing” of what it means to be both important to know of Providence, Jewish and Polish, what we can know the first women Sapon-White said. of African de Sapon-White about sources, but to scent to sucquickly realized also know what we cessfully start a that her 12 interreligious order cannot know.” views did not paint in the U.S. He the full picture, delved into hisshe said, so she - Aaron Colston ’14, torical sources returned to Poland about the for three months as senior fellow group, supplepart of her senior menting missfellowship. After ing pieces of travelling around the country and at- the story with his own poetry. tending various conferences, Sapon- “I fill in the silences with poetry to White conducted 33 interviews and sort of illuminate how our ways of took 60 to 70 hours of footage. doing history kind of leave us with Her film takes a deep look at the this mystery of our knowledge of the relationship between “insiders and past,” he said. “It’s not just important outsiders” in the Jewish community, to know what we can know about she said, a dichotomy that is difficult sources, but to also know what we FROM FELLOWS PAGE 1
HOPkINS CENTER fOR THE ARTS
Dartmouth students
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DARTMOUTH COLLEGE GOSPEL CHOIR WALT CUNNINGHAM director Some favorite voices from director Walt Cunningham’s 11 years at the helm of this choir join the ensemble for a reunion concert. Get ready to groove to some gospel choir favorites—with new songs sprinkled in the mix, for a not-tobe-missed program. With a punch-packing 20-piece band and high-energy numbers, it’s rousing music, community and just a good ol’ time.
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cannot know.” Kilimo’s advisor Sergei Kan, an anthropology and Native American studies professor, said Kilimo’s project focuses on the role of interethnic friendships in Kenya, a country often divided by politicized ethnic violence. Kilimo, who grew up in Kenya, spent her summer there conducting interviews with members of her own generation, he said. Kilimo did not respond to requests for comment. Kilimo’s project incorporates field work and observation, aspects of a traditional anthropology thesis, Kan said, but she has more closely studied the history and demographics of the country and its people. Kilimo has found that the role of ethnicity varies based on the history of different Kenyan areas, he said. Kan said Kilimo’s work is unique because she is writing in a style accessible to people outside academia. Faculty are often frustrated that Dartmouth’s short terms do not allow students to produce substantive works, Kan said, but senior fellowships address this problem by allowing participants to more thoroughly explore topics of interest. Film and media studies professor Bill Phillips, Sapon-White’s advisor, said in an email that the program
demonstrates “the best that education as program director, Funnell said the has to offer” by cutting bureaucracy number of students participating in and allowing students to focus on the program has ranged from two to 10. their passions. The program, however, can Gerald Kaminsky ’61, a former senior fellow, be a “gamble,” has established Phillips said. Be- “There is no such an endowment cause it replaces thing as a typical to fund the proseveral terms of gram, Funnell Dartmouth cours- senior fellowship.” said, which es, students must covers particiensure that their pants’ costs. interest in the topic - MARGARET FUNNELL, Additionally, justifies a full year SENIOR FELLOWSHIP fellows are not of study. PROGRAM DIRECTOR required to pay Funnell said tuition for their the commitment is the right fit for only a “very limited final term at Dartmouth. number of students,” as the College The application deadline for now offers many more traditional next year’s senior fellows was April opportunities to complete interdis- 9, and applicants will find out about ciplinary work. During her 10 years acceptances in May, Funnell said.
Dartmouth Communications InternshIp
Fall 2014 through spring 2015 The Whitney Campbell Internship is a paid, three-term position in Dartmouth’s Office of Public Affairs. The intern writes news and feature stories for a variety of College publications, and may also serve as a video interviewer, assist with social media, and generate story ideas. Previous writing experience desirable. The position is 10 hours a week for three terms: Fall 2014, and Winter and Spring 2015. Applicants must be available on campus for all three terms. Submit cover letter, resume, and up to three writing samples. If available, submit samples of published work. Email emily.g.anderson@dartmouth.edu or send to HB 6006.
DeADLIne: Friday, May 2, 2014 Student Jobnet #10006
“The Whitney Campbell Internship has been an invaluable part of my Dartmouth experience. It helped me learn the importance of teamwork, creative discussion, and the skill set needed to thrive in a professional work environment.” — Emma Steele ’14
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
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Staff columnist yoo jung kim ’14
staff columnist joseph geller ’16
Poorly Planned Policy
Popularity Contest
The new credit policy may deter potential students from Dartmouth. With prospective members of the Class of 2018 on campus for Dimensions, we are more conscious than ever of what may deter admitted students from attending Dartmouth. The College’s new AP credit policy, which will no longer allow students to receive credit toward graduation for AP or IB scores, may discourage them. According to its website, although the College will grant course credit on entrance for AP or IB examinations and offer exemptions and placement in some subject areas, the credits will not count toward the 35 required to graduate. The faculty passed this motion in November 2012, even though many other Ivy League and highly selective liberal arts institutions still accept AP or IB pre-matriculation credits for graduation. Articles in outlets ranging from the Washington Post to the Chronicle of High Education questioned whether the College made a smart decision. Harvard University, for instance, dispenses credit toward graduation through an “advanced standing,” which allows eligible students to graduate form Harvard after six or seven semesters of enrollment. Yale University, likewise, awards “acceleration credit” for certain AP and IB scores, allowing students to complete the bachelor’s degree in fewer than eight semesters. Princeton University students can use AP credits to take an off-term during sophomore year. Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University also award some credits for AP and IB scores. In fact, among the Ivies, only Brown University does not provide course credit for AP or IB scores. Brown, it should be noted, has an extremely flexible major and graduation policy. Given the policies at our peer institutions, Dartmouth’s decision is a clear outlier that will not fare well under scrutiny from future applicants. According to Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael Mastanduno, up to 20 percent of Dartmouth students are eligible to take a term off due to their AP and IB credits. Short of taking multiple four-term courses, virtually all Dartmouth students will have to graduate in 12 terms. This is unfortunate because off-terms gained by using AP and IB credits can
provide important experiences beyond what is taught in the Dartmouth curriculum. Students graduating early have more time to find a job or to think about what they want to do. And although Dartmouth is quick to tout the benefits of a liberal arts education, there are many things to learn in the outside world that classes alone cannot teach us. I know members of the Class of 2014 who are currently using their spring terms to conduct research, study for standardized tests and travel around the world. Considering the high cost of a college degree and the flexibility in academic planning afforded by credits, the College should not deny students the option of putting their work before matriculation to use. The new policy is especially disadvantageous to middle and upper-middle class Dartmouth students whose families do not qualify for financial aid. They often must take out large loans or dip into their parents’ retirement savings to pay the cost of tuition. Considering that cost of attendance for members of the Class of 2018 is $65,133 and it takes 35 credits to graduate, a high school senior who paid around $180 for two eligible AP tests and skipped her senior spring could have saved around $20,000. One must wonder whether the faculty considered the full economic implications of the new AP-IB policy on the families of future College students. The faculty should seriously reconsider the policy. Meanwhile, this could be the type of concrete crisis that could allow the newest iteration of the Student Assembly to shine, especially if it wants to move away from the viewpoint that the Assembly is unnecessary. Members of the Assembly could organize a respectful campaign calling for the revocation of the new policy by reaching out to prospective students and their parents — especially those who were accepted through early decision — via Facebook or other social media. While the new policy will not affect currently enrolled students, reversing it will demonstrate Student Assembly’s utility and allow future students, who have demonstrated foresight in choosing to invest in their education in high school, the option of pursuing their ambitions earlier.
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ISSUE
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
NEWS EDITORS: Josh Koenig and Heather Szilagyi, LAYOUT EDITOR: Michael Qian, TEMPLATING EDITOR: Meg Parson.
SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.
We have an obligation to be informed about Student Assembly elections. Last Monday, the student body voted to elect Casey Dennis ’15 and Frank Cunningham ’16 to be our next Student Assembly president and vice president. For the record, I believe that Casey and Frank will do an excellent job. But I believe that many students who vote do so based on popularity or familiar names, not policies and agendas. Like I did, you might have voted for one of your friends. He or she might have been the only candidate running who you personally knew, and so you voted for him or her. It makes sense, right? On a campus with over 4,000 undergraduate students, any given student probably knew only one or two of the candidates and, as a result, probably voted for that person. Even if you think that a certain candidate would be a good fit for the job, how are you supposed to know which candidate will be the best option out of everyone running? With the majority of voters not attending debates, we clearly don’t always make informed decisions when voting for Student Assembly. Right now, the Assembly is a popularity contest, and getting elected is more about getting your name out than anything else. It’s about getting the votes needed to make the kind of difference you want to make — whether or not your voters agree with your plans. I have seen candidates go door to door in freshmen dorms asking for votes. It seems unfair to target impressionable first-year students, who may not have full knowledge of the candidates or of the Student Assembly as a whole. This is not the first year I’ve seen that type of campaigning, either. Candidates receive some votes just by asking for them — not based on their plans or agendas. This is especially troubling because Student Assembly can and does have a significant impact on campus as shown by this year’s $58,000 budget and the fact that they represent the student body. For example, this year, the Assembly has made concentrated efforts on making
this campus safer regarding sexual assault. Student Assembly, like it or not, represents the students here on campus, and maybe we should care a little bit more about who holds that office. To be honest, I knew almost nothing about the other candidates when I voted, and I could not have cared less about finding out anything about them, either. It would have taken too much time and effort that I wasn’t willing to give. Now that the elections have come to a close, I’ve reconsidered the way that I approached them. I keep thinking to myself, “How sad is that?” The fact that many of us, myself obviously included, are too busy and preoccupied to care about learning about the candidates in order to make informed decisions on election day tells you something about how the student body perceives Student Assembly. Further, it tells you something about how students view their obligation to vote and their own role in catalyzing change at the College. People always say you have a civic duty to vote. I disagree. I think you have a civic duty to vote if you are well-informed and are making a knowledgeable decision for legitimate reasons. Otherwise, maybe you shouldn’t vote. I do not blame the candidates who worked tirelessly throughout election week to get their names out there and have their ideas heard. With their only option being to partake in this popularity contest, who can blame them? Each candidate believed that he or she could positively impact the school and needed to get elected first in order to do that. No, it is on us, the student body, to bring integrity back to the elections process. I know we are all busy, but with all of the debates and campaigning, it is relatively easy to research each candidate. Next year, I plan on attending the debates and making an informed, conscious decision, and hopefully many more students will do the same. And if you don’t know anything about the candidates and couldn’t care less, that’s fine. Just don’t vote.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
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Speakers address need for social change at campus summit FROM SUMMIT PAGE 1
vember Board of Trustees meeting. The board will decide on a course of action. Hanlon condemned hazing, racism and sexism in his speech. “Dartmouth’s promise is being hijacked by extreme and harmful behaviors masked by its perpetrators as acceptable fun,” Hanlon said. “Enough is enough.” These behaviors have divided the community, distracted it from learning and teaching and harmed the College’s reputation, he said, mentioning the recent drop in application numbers and the ongoing Title IX investigation. Trustee Laurel Richie ’81 said that the processes of change and improvement must be inclusive, mirroring the culture that the committee aspires to create. “Our success tonight is not measured by what we do in the next hour, but our collective ability to open doors and welcome all who have the passion for moving Dartmouth forward,” she said. Hanlon also emphasized that it is important for the process not to be seen as a top-down approach. Professor of Spanish, Latin American, Latino and Caribbean studies, women’s and gender studies and comparative literature Rebecca Biron said in a speech that Dartmouth students fear social exclu-
*T HE D ARTMOUTH
sion. She described meeting with students from diverse backgrounds who said that they felt like they did not belong at the College. “We need to rewrite the fear story about the Dartmouth community,” Biron said. “Fact: everyone who is here belongs here. Fact: there is no one who is here that belongs here more than anyone else. Everyone is an equally valuable member of the community.” Reflecting on his time at the College, trustee Jeffrey Immelt ’78 said that an institution is defined by its culture and Dartmouth must ensure that its own is strong and positive. “The culture I remember is one where every student could strive to be the best but never lose touch with their humanity,” Immelt said. “That culture didn’t include excessive behavior or ostracizing others or hurting each other. Our culture has to stand for the things that are aspirational about our school.” Richie said some of the challenges that students currently face are similar to the ones she faced as an African-American woman at the College, but she said she is optimistic that Dartmouth will change. Hanlon said while many in higher education think endemic issues like high-risk drinking and sexual assault cannot be solved, he is optimistic. “Dartmouth will prove them
IS ALWAYS PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER *
wrong,” he said. “Dartmouth will take the lead in American education by taking campus life to a safe, sustainable place. I speak for the community when I say, we welcome the high expectations. And we will
“Our success tonight is not measured by what we do in the next hour, but our collective ability to open doors and welcome all who have the passion for moving Dartmouth forward.” - LAUREL RICHIE ’81, MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES deliver.” Hanlon noted steps that the College has taken to address many campus issues. These include the creation of the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative, the new sexual assault policy proposal and initiatives that have led to a downward
trajectory in dangerous drinking at the College. “This is progress, great progress, but we must not confuse it with success,” he said. In a brief address to the room, Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson said the summit was just a first step in the process of changing the College, which will require “incredible energy.” Esteban Castaño ’14, founder of Dartmouth Roots, said in a speech that the summit was successful in coming up with new ideas. Dartmouth Roots, a student group that started Improve Dartmouth, facilitated small group breakout sessions that occurred between two blocks of speeches. Students interviewed said the group discussions were productive. Student body vice presidentelect Frank Cunningham ’16 said he hopes other students will share his excitement about ideas discussed at the summit. “I think that, right now, students of Dartmouth should be eager to try change,” Cunningham said. “We should keep a positive mindset and be open to ideas and concepts.” He said he would like to extend such discussions to the rest of campus. Mathematics professor Alex
Barnett said in an email that he did not think the summit was truly about creating inclusivity. Safety and Security members were present at the door and invitees’ names were checked against a list. Barnett was turned away and said he was told that the room was over capacity. He said he found his experience frustrating because he has been involved in student life issues in the past, adding that he felt the event’s exclusivity was unnecessary and “deeply ironic.” Taylor Cathcart ’15, who attended the event, said the discussions’ private atmosphere made it possible for participants to truly engage with the proposed ideas. “There was a really good focus on proposing ideas as opposed to shooting them down,” he said. “People were more willing to speak their minds instead of just adopting positions that they had always held.” Attendee Rachel Funk ’15 said her breakout group discussed the potential of trying to make student life more spontaneous, resembling the often-random social interactions of freshman year. Students interviewed declined to provide information on specific ideas discussed during group discussions, which were closed to the press.
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THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
DARTMOUTH EVENTS TODAY 4:00 p.m. Sexual Assault Awareness Month “Clothesline” project, Center for Gender and Student Engagement, 6 Choate Road
4:00 p.m. Annual William W. Cook Lecture, “My Beautiful Elimination,” Stephen Best, Sanborn Library, Wren Room
4:30 p.m. James Hoffman Memorial Lecture, “Photographic Interference,” Haldeman 041
TOMORROW 4:00 p.m. Cramer Series seminar, “Interplay Between Self and Nonself Recognition Mechanisms Regulate Chemotropic Interactions and Cell Fusion,” Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center 201
7:00 p.m. LaTasha Diggs, interdisciplinary poet and sound artist, Hopkins Center Bentley Theater
7:00 p.m. Film, “Like Father Like Son” (2013), Loew Auditorium
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
PAGE 7
Adams ’11 promotes first Voice artist,poet Diggs comes to Bentley film about College improv B y ANDREA NEASE
B y HALLIE HUFFAKER The Dartmouth Staff
Genevieve Adams ’11 recently coproduced and starred in a film, “I’m Obsessed with You (But You’ve Got to Leave Me Alone),” that she originally wrote as a play for her senior honors thesis. She also performed the show in New York. The story follows members of a quirky collegiate improv group as they experience life’s ups and downs. The film premiered at the Sonoma International Film Festival in California two weeks ago and will appear at the Boston International Film Festival on Friday. Did you know you wanted to pursue theater as a career when you came to Dartmouth? GA: I knew I wanted to pursue it as a career, but I chose to go to Dartmouth and not a conservatory because I wanted a broad academic education. I wanted to major in English, not because the theater department wasn’t amazing, because it was, but because I came to Dartmouth to study other things. I don’t think it really matters in the industry what you major in. If you choose a place like Dartmouth that’s known for its top liberal arts education, people respect you, and it certainly makes you stand out as being smart. Was there one experience that set you on the path for your show? GA: I was part of an improv group on campus called Casual Thursday, and I was part of this whole underground performing sub-culture at Dartmouth. I thought it was really cool and interesting, but I didn’t think people really knew about it outside of Dartmouth. I was inspired by the funny people I met, and I wanted to record them and share them with people. How did your thesis transform into a show in New York? GA: I was with an actress friend from New York, and she was frustrated because she was not getting any roles. I said, “Well, me neither, why don’t we just do it ourselves?” So we walked into this little theater called Gene Frankel Theatre on Bond Street and rented it out for four shows. That’s the cool thing about New York — you can do things like that. It’s a risk, and we had to pull together our money, but it was worth it. How did you advertise the shows? GA: Bond Street is a really cool street, so people just walked by and saw it. We had wine at intermission, music playing in the lobby and just made it really fun. We wanted to make it feel like one of the shows at Dartmouth. I think that there’s a lack of theater that’s fun and young and vibrant in New York, so people were excited to see fresh faces.
How was the process of converting it from a play to a screenplay? GA: [English professor] Donald Pease was my thesis advisor, and he was extremely helpful in putting the play in terms of a broader landscape for me, so working with him was vital in terms of how I saw the movie. Jasiek Goracy, who directed the play, was working for a casting director in film, and his whole office saw the play and thought it would be a cool movie. Jasiek helped me adapt it for the screen. We wrote 17 drafts, and that process took about a year. It takes a long time, and these things are kind of always in progress. Did you recast it from the play? GA: We recast it because we were trying to raise money and the only way to get investors on board is to have recognizable names. We have Rachel Brosnahan from “House of Cards,” Manish Dayal from “90210,” Thomas McDonell from “The 100” [and] Jason Ralph from Peter and the Starcatcher. We have an amazing cast of up-and-coming young actors who all did it because they really responded to the writing. I think there’s a lack of complicated roles written for young people out there in artistic, original films. What do you have coming up? GA: I actually have four films coming out soon where I have small roles. I am in “Bird People” (2014) with Josh Charles, “The Skeleton Twins” (2014) with Kristen Wiig, “A Walk Among the Tombstones” (2014) with Liam Neeson and “Mania Days” (2014) with Katie Holmes. [Wiig] is my all-time hero, so working with her was really exciting. Are you hoping to get into more films or continue acting on the stage? GA: I’d love to do it all. I have another screenplay that I am kind of finished with, and I’m hoping to get on stage and continue auditioning for film roles. I think it’s good to have goals, but also good to be open to what my opportunities are in the moment. What was filming like on the day to day? GA: It was crazy. It depended on what location we were in. In Long Island, we would wake up at 2 a.m. and shoot until 5 p.m. because we had to be off the beach by then, so those were grueling days. When we were shooting at Dartmouth, we got a little bit more of a normal work schedule, up around 7 a.m. and in bed by 10 p.m., because we were shooting at [Alpha Delta fraternity] and in classrooms. It was 25 days of pure work and a ridiculous logistical struggle, but so fun. This interview has been edited and condensed.
Combining spoken word, vocal improvisation, digitally manipulated sound and video, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs will perform excerpts from her latest chapbook, a collection of poetry titled “TwERK,” at the Hopkins Center’s Bentley Theater on Friday evening. The poet and sound artist will also lead a Thursday evening workshop in Collis Common Ground for students interested in learning how to use the human body as an instrument. In her performance works, Diggs combines language with different modes of communication, such as music, physical movement and digital manipulation. Many of her poems combine different languages and experiment with form. Diggs said the inspiration for her work is personal and reflects her upbringing, surrounded by musicians and poets in Harlem. “Being in an environment that was largely musicians encouraged me to work more with the musicians in a position that was more than being a poet,” Diggs said. “And seeing all these things that come out, whether it’s the personal and the private, the private and the personal, in terms of language, in terms of body language in terms of movement, in terms of exchange — it informs me, it still does.” While some writers and performers take colloquial language and slang for granted, Diggs disrupts this thinking, integrating a variety of sounds and
languages to create a new kind of com- showcase her contributions to vocal munication in her poetry. experimentation and black theater. Though Diggs said she viewed her “I would say it will be a night of first poetry readings at open mic events mystics that will expose the boundaras simply a chance to share her work with ies of language and experiment with an audience, she described her current human expression,” Winfrey said. readings as purposeful and intimate. Dondei Dean ’17, who plans to “When I’m doing my own proj- attend Diggs’s Friday performance, ects, I am constantly negotiating what said she looked forward to Diggs’s exactly am I communicating to the experimentation. audience, to the “I think participants who “Being in an that unlike most are sitting down art forms, it has and listening to environment that a particular way me and watching was largely musicians of drawing in me read or do the viewer,” she encouraged me to vocal manipulasaid. “Because tions or instruct- work more with the it’s not static, like ing them in some musicians in a position a drawing or a sort of audience painting, in some activity,” she said. that was more than ways there’s more Diggs’s Thurs- being a poet.” for the listener to day interactive engage with. The workshop will envocal inflections, courage students - latasha n. nevada diggs the gestures, the to expand their subtle rhymes and understanding of language and voice strong phrases — they all contribute.” performance, she said. In her own ex- Diggs’s performance is part of the periments with sound, Diggs has worked theater department’s Voices program, with different theories and incorporated which aims to bring diverse and experinatural and artificial sounds. mental artists to campus. Diggs has asked workshop partici- Diggs attended Borough of Manhatpants to bring a poem with at least two tan Community College and received a languages. Multi-lingual pieces, she said, master’s degree at New York University. help press the boundaries of language, She pursued a master of fine arts degree a concept she has explored in her work. at the California College of the Arts. She Theater professor Maya Winfrey, is the author of four poetry chapbooks who helped organize Diggs’s visit to including “TwERK” and has produced campus, said the artist was chosen to an album, “Televisíon.”
Next week in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program!
Anveshi: Articulating New Positions from the Indian Women’s Movement Suneetha Achuta, Coordinator and Senior Fellow, Anveshi Research Center for Women’s Studies, Hyderabad, India
April 21st • 4:15 PM • Carpenter 13
The Fourteenth Annual Stonewall Lecture Marriage as Blind Spot: What Same-Sex Marriage Advocacy Doesn’t Say about LGBT Parenting Nancy Polikoff, Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law, author, Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families Under the Law (Beacon 2008)
April 23rd • 4:15 PM • Carpenter 13 Both Events Free and Open to the Public
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
PAGE 8
SPORTS
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
THURSDAY LINEUP
TRACK AND FIELD AT MR. SAC RELAYS ALL DAY
Figure skating captures third place at college nationals B y BRETT DRUCKER
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
Followed every step of the way by its new unofficial mascot named Axel, a stuffed Dartmouth bear sent by a fan, the club figure skating team took third place at the U.S. Figure Skating Intercollegiate Team Championships last weekend in Adrian, Mich. The Big Green finished third out of nine teams with 114.5 points, just one behind second-place Boston University. The University of Delaware took home the championship with a final score of 132 points. “I think even more so this year, than other years, there was a really positive but still competitive environment,” Kelsey Anspach ’15 said. The Big Green, Terriers and Blue Hens were clearly in control of the competition, as the fourth place team from Adrian College finished with just 73 points. The team saw success across levels throughout the two-day tournament. Schools are allowed
KELSEY KITTELSEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The Big Green had nine individual first-place finishes at the event.
35 starts, which they can allocate however they like across the various events. “Our goal was to do our personal best and to leave everything out there,” co-captain Caroline Knoop ’15 said. “We trained so hard leading up to this competition, and I think it showed.” Dartmouth took home first place in both the high and interme-
diate team maneuvers and third in the low maneuvers. The event, rare outside of college competition, combines different team members in six individual elements for an overall score. “It’s the essence of the team,” Anspach said. “I always loved skating that way where you’re all on the ice together.” Dartmouth accumulated 13
points across the three events, more than any other team. There were also plenty of individual successes. In her first year on the team, Maddie Thornton ’17 won first place in the novice ladies free skate and short program. Armin Mahbanoozadeh ’17 also had a pair of podium-topping results in the senior men’s short program and free skate. “Armin’s performance is so fun to watch,” Kristen Nehls ’14 said. “He’s a phenomenal skater, and it’s really amazing to see that level of expertise.” Mahbanoozadeh, a for mer Team USA skater, has a large following, including a Japanese fan club. Some of his fans traveled to Michigan to support him in the event, presenting him with the stuffed bear. Mahbanoozadeh is a member of The Dartmouth staff. The team also picked up nine points on a one-two finish from Christine Mozer ’16 and Anspach in the junior solo dance. Knoop and Anspach finished first and third, respectively, in the
novice solo dance to continue to build Dartmouth’s score. Anspach is a former member of The Dartmouth staff. Kirsten Seagers ’15, Justine Obr ’17 and Victoria Rackohn ’14 also won top honors in the junior ladies short program, pre-juvenile ladies free skate and preliminary solo dance, respectively. Knoop and Seagers scored 10.5 points for Dartmouth in the junior championship ladies free skate by finishing second and third, respectively, in the high-level event that included two bonus points for scoring competitors. Knoop, who skated to the soundtrack from “Out of Africa” (1985), overcame a technical malfunction in her music that kept replaying the same 10-second clip on a loop for the last half of her program. The team left campus Thursday and returned at 1:30 a.m. Sunday night. Nationals is the team’s only opportunity during the season to see and compete against people outside of the East Coast.
Concato brothers bring consistency on the mound for Dartmouth B y GAYNE KALUSTIAN The Dartmouth Staff
The Concato name doesn’t hang in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The family holds no Division I record and is represented by no athletes in the major leagues. In fact, when brothers Louis Concato ’14 and Mike Concato ’17 were born to two New York University-educated physicians, it seemed more likely that they would grow up to perform open heart surgery than open an inning on the mound. But now, braving uncharted territory for the Connecticut-based family, the two brothers represent cornerstones of Dartmouth’s starting pitching rotation, together throwing 67.1 innings for the Big Green so far this season. The two began their baseball careers after trying various other sports. They settled on America’s favorite pastime as a result of the baseball-entrenched culture of Woodbridge, Conn., and the influence of their grandmother, who was a diehard Yankee fan who grew
up two blocks from the pinstripes’ New York City stadium. “She has followed us in depth throughout our careers, and she’s definitely been one of our biggest supporters and a source of motivation,” Louis Concato said. Before settling in Hanover, both brothers dominated their local Class LL baseball league at Amity Regional High School. Louis Concato, captain of his team his senior year, helped bring the Spartans to a 20-0 regular season record before making first team all-state. The memories from that season, he said, especially helped him develop as a player after his co-captain from that team, Joe Ciancola, then at the University of Rhode Island, died as a sophomore in college. “He was one of my close friends, and we were kind of the backbone of that season,” he said. “It’s kind of been a constant reminder of always trying to get better and not taking days for granted. It’s really helped me to appreciate what baseball has to offer.” Younger brother Mike Con-
cato joined the all-state team for both his junior and senior years before pitching a no-hitter against Greenwich High School in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. He would go on to take the team to a 4-0 victory in the Championship game against Southington High School. Their family members — especially their parents — have supported the two since their Little League days, coming to as many games as possible throughout their lengthy careers, Mike Concato said. When the 2014 season began, which was Louis Concato’s final and Mike Concato’s first for the Big Green, the two brothers suited up together, working to help fill a void left by the departure of four of the team’s starters. While the team worked out the kinks in its rotation during the preseason, 18-year-old Mike Concato got his first college start on the mound — the only freshman on the team to do so this season — against the University of Kansas. His strong performance on
the mound, allowing two runs in eight innings of work against the then-No. 18 team in the nation, left no room for doubt about his feasibility in college. Making his collegiate debut against the Jayhawks was intimidating, Mike Concato said. “I worry about the things that I can control,” he said. “When I was warming up, I was looking at my fastball and making mixed pitches. Putting a freshman in against a team like that meant a lot. I think it means that my coach has confidence in me. Knowing that he trusts me to give me the ball against a team like that gives me confidence.” As the season progressed, the two brothers took their positions in the rotation. Louis Concato, the team’s most experienced starter, has racked up the lowest ERA on the team with a 3.48 mark. Teammate Ryan Toimil ’14 said the elder Concato’s success stems from his relentless pursuit of perfection. “Louis has always worked hard,” he said. “He’s always tried to im-
prove on himself. He’s always tried to pinpoint his weaknesses and fix them.” As Louis Concato enters the final weeks of his last season for Dartmouth, he considers the aspects of the game that kept him going all those years. He cited the competitiveness, the challenge to his mental and physical abilities and the team environment that he has found at Dartmouth. But while one brother is looking to hang up his glove for the last time, another is stepping into the limelight, following a legacy that was forged not by generations of ballplayers but by the big brother with whom he played catch as a kid. The team has already come to depend on Mike Concato, Toimil said. “He’s a great pitcher, just like his brother,” he said. “He’s got a lot of talent, and he’ll obviously only get better. He’ll be able to make a name for himself in the coming years instead of just being Louis’s younger brother.”