VOL. CLXXIV NO.74
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Outgoing Board chair Bill Helman ’80 discusses College’s future
CLOUDY HIGH 64 LOW 45
By ALEX FREDMAN
The Dartmouth Staff
ALEX FREDMAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
On Tuesday afternoon, chair of the Board of Trustees Bill Helman ’80 spoke at a special town hall session that was hosted by executive vice president Rick Mills. Around 200 students, staff, faculty and alumni attended the hour-long event in Cook Auditorium. The town hall was first scheduled for March 8 but was then
About 200 students and community members attended the town hall session on Tuesday.
SEE HELMAN PAGE 2
OPINION
STANESCUBELLU: FASHIONABLY UNCONVENTIONAL PAGE 6
MALBREAUX: THE POWER OF PC PAGE 6
ARTS
STEM ARTS CONCERT HELD TODAY PAGE 8
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Green Key concert will require wristbands for entry By JULIAN NATHAN
The Dartmouth Staff
In a campus-wide email sent April 25, the Programming Board announced that concert-goers will be required to wear wristbands in order to gain entry to this year’s Green Key concert. Hanover town manager Julia Griffin said that the Town of Hanover, Safety and Security, the Office for Student Life, the Hanover Police Department
and the Hanover Fire Department all provided input on the decision. The concert, which will take place on Gold Coast lawn on May 19, will feature Sage the Gemini as the headliner alongside Cheat Codes and Smallpools. Griffin said her office suggested using wristbands to restrict concert access to only the Dartmouth community because in previous years, many middle SEE GREEN KEY PAGE 3
DANIEL BERTHE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Last year’s Green Key concert featured DJ group Cash Cash.
Q&A with Office of Greek Life director Brian Joyce By ANTHONY ROBLES The Dartmouth Staff
Walking into the office of Brian Joyce, the recently-appointed director of the Office of Greek Life, one can immediately tell that he hails from Kentucky. A signed University of Kentucky basketball features prominently on his shelf. Now, however, Joyce finds himself quite a way from home, having recently graduated with a Ph.D. in education leadership from Clemson University. Although Joyce has only been on the
job for nine months, he believes that the Greek system at the College has made great advancements in facilitating selfgovernance and leadership, deeming the work tough and challenging, but ultimately fulfilling. How did your career end up bringing you to Dartmouth? BJ: I’ve always been passionate about fraternity and sorority life. I’ve been in a couple of different functional areas of student affairs, but the most impactful thing on my own student leadership was joining a fraternity —
it’s where I learned about leadership and met some of my best friends today. I’ve always been a strong believer in what fraternities and sororities can do for college students and alums who choose to be engaged. I finished up my Ph.D. at Clemson last summer and so that brought a job search. I was looking all over the place, looking at a number of different positions, but I really wanted to work in Greek life. I found Dartmouth, and I loved it. I loved the students. There was something about the students that I could tell this was going to be a place
that challenged me professionally. The work is certainly difficult and challenging, but I really appreciated that the students were open to new ideas, and there was a healthy dose of looking at the system critically and looking at their experience and being open to thinking about it in different ways. And in doing that, they helped me think about what was the most effective and thinking about things critically and so I appreciate that. I feel like every day is a challenge, and I SEE JOYCE PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
PAGE 2
Board chair discusses College’s future FROM HELMAN PAGE 1
rescheduled for March 15, though no reason was given. It was rescheduled again after a snowstorm overtook campus. Elected as a charter trustee in 2009 and serving as the Board’s chair since 2014, Helman’s second and final term will conclude this June. The event was an opportunity for Helman to reflect on his time as a trustee and offer his thoughts on several issues facing the College today and in the future. In addition to serving on the Board, Helman is a partner at the venture capital firm Greylock and serves on the board of the Ford Motor Company After a brief introduction by Mills, Helman immediately opened the floor to questions from audience members. The questions dealt with a wide variety of topics, ranging from the College’s undergraduate liberal arts focus to the Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative to the creation of the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society. Helman began by saying that he was pleased with the Board’s progress with its role in recent years. In the past, he said, the trustees often lacked a core philosophy and goal for Dartmouth, hindering the Board’s ability to promote constructive change. “The Board is ultimately responsible for strategy: what the College’s mission is, what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Helman said during the town hall. “And we have to be certain we have … the right people, human resources and financial resources in order to execute against that mission, that strategy.” Addressing the question of what he considers his greatest concern for Dartmouth, Helman said that the rate of change occurring at Dartmouth has not been fast enough compared to the rest of higher education. He noted that more change needs to occur in the form of improving the budget, transitioning from Oracle software to the cloud, ending the use of No. 6 fuel oil as an energy source and investing more funds in entrepreneurial initiatives such as the DEN and the Digital Arts Leadership and Innovation Lab. When asked in an interview with The Dartmouth after the town hall about how increasing this rate of change can be pursued from a financial basis without impacting already-rising tuition prices, Helman said that other steps involving budget reallocation can help. Helman added that affordability is a serious concern for the Board, and that the College
spends over $100 million a year on financial aid. During the town hall, Helman said that the Board of Trustees has at times acted as a “black box” in that many people involved with the College, especially students, are not familiar with the Board’s impact on the school. Helman noted that the Board has improved significantly in terms of its communications since he joined but that volatility of the D-Plan can make interactions between trustees and leaders of various student groups difficult to arrange. One audience member, identifying himself as a graduate student working on risk management for the College, asked Helman to respond to a recent editorial in The Dartmouth criticizing the College’s decreasing focus on the liberal arts, as well as to address student dissatisfaction with the administration on policies such as Moving Dartmouth Forward. Helman said that while a liberal arts focus continues to be important for the College, the nature of liberal arts has changed significantly since he graduated in 1980. “Dartmouth — and higher ed especially — is more than ever before perceived as a pre-career training ground,” Helman said. “There’s more pressure than ever to get a good job.” He added that from a business-like standpoint, the College could benefit from viewing its students as customers and asking what the customers want from their education — which, he said, involves more engineering, business and computer science classes as well as increased opportunities for independent undergraduate research. In addressing student dissatisfaction with administrative policies, however, Helman said that the College must be willing to do the right thing on some issues — such as the campus-wide ban on hard alcohol — even if they are not popular with students. He expressed optimism in the Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative, saying he is hopeful MDF will change Dartmouth for the better, but noted that major changes such as this always face some amount of resistance. Near the end of the session, Helman was asked about the creation of the new Irving Institute, and if there were ethical concerns given that the Irving family owns major oil company Irving Oil. Helman said the Irving family does not have direct input on the academic foundation of the Institute, adding that the College may not have communicated this clearly enough.
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
Helman said in the later interview that the decision to serve eight years as a trustee was an easy one for him. “Dartmouth was incredibly important in shaping me into who I am today, and I learned a lot here,” Helman said. Mills said that as chair of the Board, Helman has served as a driving force behind the Board’s role as the governing institution of the College, and that he always approaches problems from different perspectives. “I think [Helman] has added a tremendous amount, and I think he changed the nature of the kind of dialogue that happens in the board room,” Mills said. “And that’s been hugely valuable.” When Helman steps down from his position in June, he will be replaced as chair by current vice chair of the Board Laurel Richie ’81, who is a consultant for Teach for America and served as president of the Women’s National Basketball Association from 2011 to 2015. Mills said that Richie’s background in advertising and communications will serve her well as chair of the Board. “She’s an amazing leader,” Helman said. “She’s an incredible communicator — really a much better communicator than I am. And she’ll be a terrific chair.”
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
DAILY DEBRIEFING Three deans at Florida A&M University were abruptly dismissed on Monday, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports. Deans Ann Kimbrough of the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication, Michael Thompson of the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Traki Taylor of the College of Education will be replaced immediately by interim positions. In September, university president Elmira Mangum stepped down six months before the end of contract term. Faculty members at the University of Illinois at Springfield began a strike Tuesday morning after the UIS United Faculty union failed to reach an agreement with the administration following months of contract negotiation, the Chronicle reports. The union has been bargaining for changes in reappointment, tenure and promotion language. University vice chancellor Clarice Ford told students that they are permitted to leave their scheduled classes should the professor not arrive within 15 minutes. Effective April 1, Harvard University libraries have eliminated the 50 cent per diem late fee on overdue books, the Harvard Crimson reports. Fees for overdue and recalled material have increased from two dollars to three dollars per day. The goal of the changes is to help students focus on academics rather than the stress incurred by overdue fines, the university’s associate director for access services, administrative operations and special projects said. The changes will also allow Harvard undergraduates to check out items from all university libraries for a semester instead of 28 days. -COMPILED BY PRIYA RAMAIAH
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
PAGE 3
Green Key concert attendees will need to wear wristbands FROM GREEN KEY PAGE 1
and high school students attended the concert while intoxicated and required emergency services. She added that during the 2015 Green Key concert, the demand for emergency services among high school students and nonDartmouth affiliated adults was so high that every ambulance in the Upper Valley had to respond to
intoxication cases the College. Griffin said she feared that diverting all ambulances to Dartmouth to deal with intoxication cases would prevent individuals dealing with emergencies elsewhere from receiving assistance. She explained that since the concert is held outdoors, it can be difficult to prevent middle or high school students from attending. “[Dartmouth’s] campus is very
porous because it’s not surrounded by blocked gates,” she said. “Quite frankly, it would be much easier for the town if this concert were held indoors.” She said creating a perimeter around the event and requiring students to wear wristbands in order to enter is one of the only ways that event organizers can prevent middle or high school students from attending the concert. Griffin said the town and the College had been discussing security protocols for this year’s concert since last May. She said College staff voiced some concerns about increasing security at this year’s event. Associate dean for student life Eric Ramsey said he was initially concerned that the new security precautions might make students feel uncomfortable. He added that he eventually realized that the measures were the best way to address the town’s concerns. Griffin said that the College was required to apply for an Outdoor Activities Permit in order to obtain the town’s permission to host the concert. A permit needs to be acquired every year. She said although College officials ultimately agreed to implement the wristband system for this year’s concert, if they
had refused to restrict access to the event, she might have denied the College’s permit. In a joint interview with concert director Zach Tannenbaum ’17, Programming Board executive director Jack Kirsch ’17 said the College was spending more on security for this year’s concert than it has in previous years. He attributed the increase in spending to the need to station security personnel at concert access points to ensure that only members of the Dartmouth community attend the event. This will be the seventh year the Programming Board has organized a Green Key concert. Kirsch noted that because of this history, officials from the College and the town can now analyze security trends and identify new protocols to improve security. Last year, Programming Board worked with the College to distribute newsletters to schools in the Upper Valley explaining that only Dartmouth students were invited to the 2016 Green Key concert. Kirsch said that despite this measure, high school students and other uninvited guests still attended the concert. Tannenbaum ag reed with Kirsch that improving security
measures in order to enter the event is the best way to restrict access to the concert. He emphasized that the extent of most students’ encounters with security personnel at this year’s event will be to show their wristbands. Hanover Police Chief Charlie Dennis said that his department also consulted with event planners and officials to ensure that this year’s concert had appropriate security protocols in place. Dennis added that his department shared in Griffin’s concerns that middle or high school students would attend this year’s concert. He said he fully supported restricting access to the concert to only the Dartmouth community. He explained that his department’s ultimate role is to make sure that students are safe and said this role has not changed despite the new measure. Griffin, Ramsey and Kirsch noted that while officers from Safety and Security and the Hanover Police Department would be present at the event, the College would also contract Green Mountain Security, a private security firm, which the College has hired for events like Homecoming and Green Key since 2015.
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
PAGE 4
DARTMOUTHEVENTS
COMING MAY 19
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
Rachel Lincoln ’20
TODAY
4:30 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Lecture: “Meditations on Wickedness from South India and South Hebron,” with Hebrew University professor David Shulman, Haldeman 41 (Kreindler Conference Hall)
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Lecture: “Alchemical Sounds: Sounds Transmuting Songs into Television Prose,” with Latin American, Latino and Caribbean studies professor Mauricio Sellmann, Dartmouth Hall 212
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Lecture: “The Fourth Amendment in Jeopardy? Privacy vs. Security in the Electronic Age,” with federal judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer, Rockefeller Center 003
TOMORROW
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Lecture: “Beyond Thundersnow: Lightning Activity in Winter Storms,” with Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Earle Williams, Wilder 104
3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Lecture: “Rule-Following Without Rules: Wittgenstein on the Normativity of Meaning and Content,” with University of California Berkeley professor Hannah Ginsborg, Haldeman 41 (Kreindler Conference Center) RELEASE DATE– Thursday, May 4, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Overlook 7 Monte Mario’s city 11 Gravy, on menus 14 At anchor 15 Somber notice 16 German direction 17 “Proceed as planned” 18 *“Thinking ... ” 20 *Shakespeare play set on an enchanted island 22 Period in ads 23 Lair 24 Bladed tool 25 Ancient Greek theater 26 “Thought I should share,” briefly 28 Pit gunk 30 __-wolf 31 Candy heart word 32 *Busker’s performance, perhaps 38 Specialty 40 Vital circulation component 41 Provocative 42 *They may be crowned 45 __ Alamos 46 “Forgot About __”: Grammywinning duet featuring Eminem 47 Actor Stephen 48 Army crawler 49 Stale 52 One in a cheering crowd 54 Moving wheels 56 Classic “You as well?” 57 *Proven long term 61 Collectors’ event, and a hint to what’s hidden in the answers to starred clues 63 Hot 64 Wheels 65 First name at Woodstock 66 Canadian coin 67 Tick off 68 First queen of Carthage 69 Performer with 20 Oscar nominations
DOWN 1 Tag line? 2 Many a blackclad teen 3 Serious downturns 4 Talk with style 5 University officials 6 Ancient Dead Sea kingdom 7 Swiss luxury brand 8 Quite heavy 9 Baker’s protection 10 Bread machine? 11 Leader of the animated Pussycats 12 Was of __: helped 13 Dutch Golden Age artist 19 Make lovable 21 Echo 25 Electrical unit 26 Glitch 27 Cosmonaut Gagarin 29 “... love hath made thee __ snake”: “As You Like It” 30 Put into words
33 Poetic adverb 34 Endless, poetically 35 Aspic-coated French chicken dish 36 Tappable image 37 Dermatologist’s concern 39 Accumulates 43 Mine output 44 One without 49 “Casino” co-star
50 In conflict, seriously 51 Gawk 52 Specialty 53 Defensive retort 55 Concerning 57 Actress Hatcher 58 Wee ones 59 Lackawanna’s lake 60 Word with freeze or fry 62 Ticked off
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
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05/04/17
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05/04/17
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
PAGE 5
Brian Joyce shares experiences working with Greek system FROM JOYCE PAGE 1
really enjoy that. I think the students were a big piece of what helped make this decision for me in coming here. How do you apply your scholarship at a school like Dartmouth? BJ: A lot of my work thus far has been in creating inclusive environments on college campuses. I think when you look at that sort of topic from a broad, big picture, one of the things that we really need to understand about diversity and inclusion work is how students socialize in predominantly, traditionally white environments. I think fraternities and sororities can be a good place to do that work. That’s certainly not the only area or student organization, but I think that’s one area that needs more research. I think Dartmouth is an ideal place to do that kind of work. Our inclusivity is something that is talked about at Dartmouth all the time. There’s work to be done, but again, I appreciate that our students are willing to put in the work and they’re willing to talk about it. What are some concrete things the Greek system can take to become more inclusive and safe? BJ: Most Greek organizations have
a cost, and a lot of them have a significant cost. Not all, but some of our organizations require dues. Some are very flexible in that you pay what you can contribute. Others are costly. I think figuring out a system that can make Greek life more accessible for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds is important. We’re talking about that currently. It’s a complicated issue, but I think it’s one that we’re committed to continuing to discuss. Further, research is necessary on who is in our community and who is not, and who has self-selected out of the community before even going through the recruitment process. Our Panhellenic Council did some research on the students going through the recruitment process and their perceptions of it, and we’ve had some panel discussions on ways in which students have felt marginalized or excluded, so I think some of that research is helpful towards us understanding who has access and who feels like they don’t or who has been marginalized in some way. We’ve got to take that to the next step and figure out what mechanisms are there to report bias — what level of education and training and awareness do we need to be able to lead a diverse community. I’ve had conversations with a lot of our student leaders about increasing
our trainings and education — from the language that we use, to how to intervene in a situation where you are not comfortable with what someone else has said or done, to how to facilitate a difficult conversation with your peers. I think that’s really important for us.
How do you add to the existing student boards? BJ: One of the things that I’ve noticed with our governing councils is we don’t have a lot of opportunities for younger leaders to get involved. We don’t really have a pathway to leadership prior to really your junior year. There’s some students who step into leadership roles their sophomore summer, but I’d like to find ways and pathways to get student leaders involved prior to that, so that they know how some of our governing councils work and they have some knowledge coming in to their year. I think that would be helpful because right now you come in and most of our students just took over in the spring. They’re thrust in these leadership roles, they’re making big decisions right away and there’s so much to get caught up on: what happened that whole year before, what were all the conversations that were happening, what was the progress that was made. A lot of times they don’t know. They have
a very small transition period with the previous leaders and now, they’re leading. I would like to find ways to get our leaders into those positions earlier and get them tapped into things before they’re making these big decisions. We just did a Greek leaders’ retreat a couple of weeks ago where we brought together all of the governing councils and presidents. I facilitated a retreat with them to establish some goals, talk about where our community is, what we think is important towards making substantive and meaningful reform in the future, in addition to making sure that we’re articulating our value on this campus. We need to be very intentional about creating a plan for how we continue to be important on this campus, continuing the things that we do really well and creating a plan for how we’re going to create change in the areas we need improvement. So we just did that, our governing councils and our presidents have a really good path forward for what we want to accomplish this year.
What are the dif ferences between Greek life here and Greek life in the South? BJ: I think Dartmouth is unique. Dartmouth is different, and it’s tough to put your finger on exactly what it is, because some of it is just simply in acronyms and names of things. Dartmouth has its own language that you have to learn coming in. There are code words for everything — it’s not email, it’s blitz. All these things that take a while to learn — the lingo and the sort of unique culture. I mentioned earlier that I think inclusivity is a topic that I hear more here than I’ve heard anywhere else. I’ve seen a commitment from Dartmouth students to be more inclusive that I just haven’t seen elsewhere. I do think that’s different. The other thing I would say is that there’s more value in being a Dartmouth student and being a member of the Dartmouth chapter of this organization. Other places, students place more value on their network nationally, with other students in the same organization. But at Dartmouth, students have a lot more value placed on the Dartmouth network. I think that is more important to Dartmouth students partially because they can succeed with the Dartmouth network, so there’s more value placed on that and probably less allegiance to this national network of other brothers and sisters in the same organization. What are the best parts of your job? BJ: I really appreciate the challenge. I think it’s easy to say, you know, “Yes, you can do this” and “No, you can’t do this.” It’s a lot more difficult to work with students to
facilitate a smart and safe process and to advise students and help them learn from these organizations. Our Greek leaders are running a business, essentially, managing a budget and working with their peers. Sometimes having really difficult conversations with them and ensuring that they hold their members accountable, plan service projects and events and think about risk management is complicated and challenging. I appreciate the challenge of working with students to think about how I can give them the skills, resources and knowledge to be able to self-govern. I appreciate that challenge and it’s rewarding to see our students learn outside of the classroom. And I’m challenged every day by Dartmouth students, which I love. Dartmouth students help me think differently about things and I really like that. It’s fun work, but it’s difficult and I think it takes time to really build up those relationships, build the kind of trust and rapport you need to be able to really tackle these big-picture issues. What do you anticipate for Greek life here in the future? BJ: I’ve seen a lot of growth and change in the nine months that I’ve been here. I’m excited about where we can go in the future because I think if we continue to build strong relationships between students and staff and continue to make the kind of progress that we’ve made since I’ve been here, we’re going to continue to address some of these challenging issues, to start to come up with some real, practical solutions to those challenges that we see in our community. I don’t want to be too specific because I think a lot of it is student-driven. I help our students refine and develop what their goals are going to be, and so that’s in a lot of ways how I imagine our success is being able to help the students make progress in the areas they want to make progress in. As we continue to refine that, some of our organizations have been sort of in a “survival mode.” That’s one of the things I would like to continue working on, that trust and rapport with this office and with staff in general. I think we’ve made great progress there and I want to continue to work on that and I want to see our organizations thrive and not just survive, not be fearful that they’re not going to be here. Our organizations add value to this campus and I want to help them continue to articulate that in productive ways and make that meaningful and substantive reform in other areas so that we can continue to thrive here. It’s a lot of work, but we’ve made really good progress. I feel really good about where we’re at. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
PAGE 6
STAFF COLUMNIST SOFIA STANESCU-BELLU ’19
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST TYLER MALBREAUX ’19
Fashionably Unconventional
The Power of PC
The Met Gala shows that we are afraid to abandon convention.
The Met Gala is arguably fashion’s biggest night. It’s an event where attendees are expected to abandon traditional conventions and be creative with their outfits, presenting their interpretation on the night’s theme. This year’s theme, “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between,” had the potential to be amongst the most innovative to date. The theme celebrates Rei Kawakubo, one of the most influential designers of the 20th and 21st centuries, and her high fashion line, Comme des Garçons. Through the line, which is known for mixing fashion and art, Kawakubo famously rejects normal clothing design rules in favor of challenging the viewer’s perception of what defines fashion, beauty and identity. The New York Times puts it best: Her designs are “outrageous, radical and beautiful,” from fur to feathers to cartoon-like dresses to sculpture-esque outfits. Guests at this year’s Met Gala were encouraged to embrace the avant-garde. Did they? Not really. There were a few looks that stuck with the theme, but the vast majority of the gala’s attendees wore safe, conventional looks — long ball gowns and the staple black tuxedos. Unfortunately, the Met Gala guests decided to forgo an homage to Kuwakubo’s innovative style in favor of the chance to make it on the “Best Dressed” list. Instead of being critiqued and picked apart by professional and amateur fashion critics alike, they chose to be lauded for an outfit that could have been worn at any event. At first glance, I was critical of the avant-garde looks. I found some of them to be ridiculous and unflattering. On second glance, I began to appreciate the unabashed confidence needed to wear such outfits. However, attendees are expected to be bold, yet few were. If it’s this difficult to go against the grain at an event where going against the grain is celebrated, rejecting the status quo in the real world is even more difficult. At Dartmouth, over 50 percent of a typical graduating class will go into finance or consulting. We live in an environment where this status quo is perpetuated daily — recruiting events, campus job fairs, clubs,
pre-professional programs and internships favor those two fields above any other. If finance or consulting is your dream job, Dartmouth has you covered. Pursue the standard and respectable goals of being financially stable and successful in these fields, and your effort will be rewarded here. There is nothing inherently wrong with this mindset; everyone should be allowed to pursue whatever career they choose. An issue arises when this mindset marginalizes students interested in other careers. I am guilty of passing judgment on people when I hear they’re pursuing nontraditional career choices. I tend to jump to the conclusion that someone might not be successful because they’re not pursuing a career that is known to be lucrative or stereotypically successful. I’m not proud of this. Instead of criticizing our peers for pursuing their dreams and having the courage to do what they love by ignoring Dartmouth’s status quo, we should embrace and encourage their goals. Just like the stars at the Met Gala who dressed conservatively to receive praise instead of judgment, a campus majority that is finance- and consultingfocused might implicitly discourage the pursuit of other passions for fear of not being “successful.” Success is subjective. For some, it lies in money or in having a strong group of family and friends and for others, success is doing what they love. We need not abandon the idea that success and money are correlated, nor should we aim to minimize the number of students going into finance and consulting — it would be hypocritical of me to say so. I’m arguing for the celebration of the nontraditional and the embrace of the bold. Those who do what they love and have the courage to defy norms should be lauded. As Kawakubo said, “the fundamental human problem is that people are afraid of change.” We are afraid of being unique because criticism drowns out support, but if everyone is scared to be different, society won’t progress. So be bold. It may not be what everyone else is doing, but homogeneity is boring.
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ISSUE
NEWS LAYOUT: Hyemin Han
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Gaining power is the real motive of campus “political correctness.” Dispelling the myths surrounding the term “political correctness” requires me to make both a concession and a confession before addressing the article’s central thesis. First, I’ll start with the concession. Political correctness, as a term, originated as a tool for prejudiced, reactionary politics — a pejorative to insult those who take a more critical view on the development of Western civilization in general and American society in particular. Patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism — the unholy trinity — are the dominant themes of these views, which are held by those on the political left. The narrative of leftist discourse on society’s structural flaws — systemic racism, classism and sexism — is not a novel one. Beginning in the 1960s, the ideology blossomed on college campuses. Protests erupted in schools such as the University of California, Berkeley and historically black colleges in response to the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War and the Equal Rights Amendment. Intense media attention forced college students into the national spotlight and gave them capability and influence never realized by prior generations. For instance, at the University of Georgia in the 1960s, dress code policies that were more restrictive on women than men were released following student-organized protests. The potential to affect university action has only increased in recent years. Students at Berkeley, for instance, prevented Ann Coulter, a prominent conservative speaker, from lecturing at a university event this year by threatening violence. Power in the form of influence also gives students, to some degree, control over course curriculum content, especially in the humanities. Course evaluations, which are now required at Dartmouth before students are allowed to access termly grades and at many other colleges in a variety of forms, may impact professors’ careers. While there is no clear evidence, a recent New York Times article suggested that negative feedback on course evaluations can reduce enrollment in a particular course, thus affecting the professor’s reputation. With their influence, students can make demands for accommodations like trigger warnings and safe spaces — in many cases, their demands are fulfilled. This is especially true for history classes, in which topics may cover controversial areas of study like slavery; in these courses, students may petition to be excused from engaging with sensitive content. The backlash to these changes, usually from those on the political right, is the charge that so-called “political correctness” is crippling free speech on college campuses. These critics have a point. For example, at many American colleges, especially elite institutions, the narrative of white supremacy is preached as dogma to invalidate white opinions, and anyone who presents an alternative is called a heretic. If someone is ignorant on the proper use of gender pronouns, they will likely be labeled a bigot. Rather than engaging in discussion, people shut down opposing viewpoints immediately.
But the more pernicious side of this hyper-politically correct culture is denying participation before words are spoken. A white male from a rural state cannot possibly comment on his apprehensions of more restrictive federal gun laws, for if he did, he would be portrayed as having no sympathy for victims of gun violence. A student from a state that is highly dependent on the oil industry cannot argue for the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, for he knows that if he does he will be labeled as someone who hates Sioux tribal nations. A student from Texas, who opposes illegal immigration and a pathway to amnesty, is discouraged from sharing this, regardless of whether he has legitimate reasons for his opposition. I make these points to preface the aforementioned confession: I am no conservative. I align myself with left-ofcenter politics. However, even I have been the target of politically correct nonsense. It is no wonder that, starting in the late 1990s, conservative media outlets began to attack the left as the political spheres became increasingly polarized. A 2015 Harvard Political Review article notes that before the turn of the century, “Political correctness was no longer a compliment, but a term laced with partisan feeling, owned by the left and despised by the right.” Ever since, conservative politicians have used the term to arouse feelings of contempt among their supporters. President Donald Trump derided political correctness and brought massive crowds to his rallies. “I’ve been challenged by so many people, and I don’t, frankly, have time for political correctness,” Trump said in late 2015 to much applause. “And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time either.” All told, political correctness is not completely baseless. There are claims that can be made with legitimacy — for example, the history of white supremacy has cursed minorities with discriminatory employment and housing, along with more blatant forms of racism like the racialization of government welfare and drug use. And the right has its own form of political correctness as well. Claiming that working class whites in rural America are victims of neoliberal policies seems to be the dominant narrative of today’s conservatives, despite the fact that extreme poverty in minority communities has never been accredited to disastrous government policy but rather a supposed failure of culture, whether that be a lack of good parenting or rampant laziness that breeds unemployment. The true motive behind both sides of political correctness is, nonetheless, to accrue power. On college campuses, leftist jargon is used by the elite to silence dissent and elevate their own class via contrived intellectualism. If college students truly, and not just superficially, long for the free flow of information, they must realize that the current use of political correctness unfairly punishes those with dissenting views and identities, and the use of technical, esoteric terminology only exacerbates the divide between student groups.
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
PAGE 7
GUEST COLUMNIST MADELINE OMROD ’19
STAFF COLUMNIST BEN SZUHAJ ’19
On Being Genuine
Enough Bells and Whistles
If I had to describe my Dartmouth but we must not forget who we are at our core. experience thus far in one word, it would be Human beings are such beautiful creatures, and genuine. It’s not always a good thing. I have gone we shouldn’t suppress our true natures. through genuine struggles, genuine heartbreak So please, please, please stop pretending and genuine sadness. There were many days to be something you are not. Stop pretending when all I could do was lie on my dorm room everything is perfect. The most genuine people bed and stare at the ceiling, questioning my are also the ones who refuse to mask their true purpose here and in the world. And, oh boy, identities. I love seeing people walk across the have I cried. Green wearing crazy outfits. These outfits I like to joke that I have done the “Dartmouth probably make them feel happy and beautiful Seven,” but instead of having sex, I’ve cried. and ready to take on the day. Outside of Baker-Berry Library, the Green, the When people choose to reveal their genuine Class of 1953 Commons, outside of Dartmouth selves, life starts to feel a lot less forced. You Hall, Occom Pond, the become friends with the gym, the Choates, Gamma “Don’t be afraid to people you really click Delta Chi fraternity … with, not just the people approach strangers. You name a place on you think you should campus, I have cried there. Talk to the person be friends with. Don’t I think there is something be afraid to approach in front of you in very poetic about crying strangers. Talk to the in public. The reality is the Collis pasta line. person in front of you in that if you are crying in the Collis pasta line. Tell Tell that girl in your public, you are probably that girl in your seminar morose because you do seminar you think you think her taste in not care about what other her taste in concert concert tees is really cool. people think of you. I have Ask people about their received judgmental stares tees is really cool. experiences. from onlookers. One of my biggest Ask them about their There was this one time issues with the Dartmouth when I was sobbing on experiences.” community is that we the phone to my mom by often like to pretend that the printers on First Floor everything is perfect. I Berry. Perhaps 100 people witnessed me there. definitely believed this fallacy for most of my Innocently trying to print out their assignments, freshman year. Everyone was so smart and people were assaulted by the image of a crazy fit, and they were acing their four classes and blonde girl weeping in the seat next to them. were in two a cappella groups and three service But then my fairy godmother ’16 had the nerve organizations and still managed to have time to to approach me. She must have been studying train for that half-marathon! I felt like everyone and noticed that I had not stopped crying for a was good at everything, and I was good at while. She placed a large chamomile tea from nothing. But, the truth is everyone has their Novack Café on the table in front of me, handed struggles. This school is not easy, and life is hard me a dark chocolate bar and hugged me. She and things happen. At some point or another whispered in my ear, “It’s going to be okay.” In everyone will experience challenges. that moment, I did not think that I was going to The best part about this “college thing” is be okay. I never got her name because she left that, yes, Dartmouth is hard. It is intense and quickly, but today I would stressful and humbling admit to her that she was “You are going to and scary, but we are in right. Everything is okay. this together. So take the make mistakes. More than okay. Great, time to ask your friends You are going to even. how they are doing, reach You might think that I out to people when you have embarrassing am overly emotional for feel like everything is expressing my emotions moments and falling apart, and please in public to strangers. seemingly lifedo not forget that college However, I believe that is supposed to be fun. those moments were changing failures.” You are going to make genuine and human. I was mistakes. You are going feeling pain, and I chose to have embarrassing not to hide it. When I don’t moments and seemingly cover up my struggles, people are much more life-changing failures. But at the end of the willing to open up to me. I have made many day, please always remember what my random wonderful friends of the people who were there FFB fairy godmother said to me last spring. “It’s for me at my darkest times even when they did going to be okay.” not know me well. At Dartmouth and in life, people should Omrod is a member of the Class of 2019. always seek to be their genuine selves. There is The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns. We request beauty in exposing uniqueness and struggle and that guest columns be the original work of the submitter. extreme happiness. When many students get to Submissions may be sent to both opinion@ college, they attempt to recreate their image. I thedartmouth.com and editor@thedartmouth.com. think trying new things and discovering new Submissions will receive a response within three business talents is one of the best things about college, days.
With the introduction of flat-screen received -78.2 and -65.7 net favorability TVs, the option to “text Foco” and musical ratings, respectively. In the same survey, accompaniments at mealtime — to name the faculty received a +84.3 net favorability a few of the changes Dartmouth Dining rating. Student opinion is clear: faculty are Services has implemented in the past few doing their jobs well. Administrators — even months — it seems like DDS is doing if they are doing their jobs well — are viewed everything it can to increase student unfavorably. satisfaction. The sad truth, however, is that Staff at Dartmouth increased by 14 DDS can dress up overpriced food and percent from 2010 to 2015, while the basic service with all the bells and whistles number of faculty only increased by 6 it wants, but none of those Band-Aid fixes percent during the same period. Of that address the real problem: DDS has a virtual 6 percent, about a quarter were faculty monopoly over student dining choices. added to one of Dartmouth’s professional Enrolled students are forced to buy a schools — the Tuck School of Business, meal plan; the cheapest option, which is Thayer School of Engineering or Geisel $970, is only accessible to students living School of Medicine. With the $160 million off-campus. This is despite the fact that for Dartmouth committed to create the Arthur some, buying groceries and preparing their L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, it own food is a more sensible option. Not only is increasingly clear that the administration that, but incoming students are forced to values its role as a research university. While buy the most expensive meal-plan, “the 20,” opinions on this move will differ, one of named after the amount Dartmouth’s main draws of meal swipes included “While comedy is its storied history each week, which comes as a top-tier liberal can and should be with $100 in DBA and arts college. Boasting little flexibility in dining used as a method excellent faculty and options. While some of coping, we must academic diversity in may argue that the 20 the relatively remote ensures that freshmen not let it cover DDS’ location of Hanover, New s t a y a d e q u a t e l y inefficiencies.” Hampshire, Dartmouth fed and increases often bills itself as a social interaction by bastion of lear ning, encouraging them to creative freedom and dine at the Class of self-growth. However, ’53 Commons, the reality is that DDS is Dartmouth feels less and less like a “small concerned first and foremost with profit, college” filled with “those who love it” and reportedly generating over $1 million in more and more like a corporation. net income in 2011. Dartmouth’s administration has struck Rather than making real, substantive an increasingly patriarchal tone with changes — such as improving the quality of students. Banning hard alcohol, instituting food, lowering the cost of food or expanding the housing system and de-recognizing operations to include an additional blender Greek organizations are all manifestations in Collis or a second line at the Courtyard of apparently unwanted administrative Cafe — DDS flouts quick, meaningless intrusion into the lives of students. As changes, such as the removal of napkin thrilling as Founder’s Day was for many dispensers on all tables or the addition of starry-eyed freshman last winter, contrived unwanted music in Foco, as laudable action. events like it are often met more with sarcasm One must only wait in line at the Hop and and memes than with genuine excitement. read the messages sent to “@txtcyc” to We, as students who simultaneously inhabit realize the foolishness with which DDS a position of tremendous privilege due to regards its relationship with the student our education and one of powerlessness to body. Rather then provide actual, valuable change institutional mainstays such as DDS, customer feedback, the Hop’s flatscreen often respond with a curious mix of apathy monitors provide mindless entertainment. and humor. Rather than vent serious frustrations with its However, while we laugh, we must not service, exorbitant prices and questionable forget that other, better systems exist. Many food quality, students have taken to ridiculing schools have a system whereby students can DDS. While comedy can and should be spend funds similar to DBA on off-campus used as a method of coping, we must not dining options. Administrative restructuring let it cover DDS’ inefficiencies. We should — and therefore the possibility of reducing recognize that this very dynamic — our the number of administrators — is a tendency to “meme” annoyances — is feature of many college presidents’ tenures. also at work when we discuss Dartmouth’s Alternative strategies to increase efficiency, administration. reduce costs and improve student satisfaction It’s no secret that the administration are clearly viable options, but they will not is unpopular. In a survey carried out by be carried out unless we continue to pressure The Dartmouth last July, ’18s gave the both DDS and the administration. administration as a whole a -75.5 favorability That said, what should be the easiest rating. Issues such as ending need-blind fix of all still hasn’t happened. How many financial aid for international students and times do I have to text DDS before it adds the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” initiative a second blender for Collis smoothies?
The author has completed “the Dartmouth Seven of crying” — and it’s okay.
Dartmouth Dining Services should adopt substantive change.
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
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THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017
STEM Arts concert will feature instruments made by students Herron and members of Tigue Percussion were brought in to help facilitate a four-day course, “Acoustic Instrument Design,” over winter break in which underg raduate and g raduate engineers designed new musical instruments. “The challenge that [Herron] gave them was to use materials
in the style of a gong. Jiao said that i n s t r u m e n t s . S h e r e c e i v e d “copper,” “gold,” “pear wood” and he found value in the exercise of her masters degree in music “rosewood.” The Dartmouth his theoretical knowledge in the from the Steinhardt School Each movement of “Assembly” T his after noon, composer production of a real-world object. o f C u l t u re, E d u c at i o n a n d focuses on a different type of Molly Herron and the Tigue, an “I just wanted to try to see Human Development at New material. The first movement, ensemble of three percussionists, whether the theoretical stuff really York University and is currently “The Oldest Materials,” is played will perform Herron’s composition, works in the way we expected,” he pursuing a Ph.D. at Princeton on materials like mammoth bone “Assembly” — on instruments that said. University. She has written music and grass. The second movement were invented under six months Herron shares the spirit of for a wide range of groups and is played on different types of ago. applying theoretical concepts to been sponsored by the Copland wood. The instruments in the third This concert is tangible products, Fund as well as the Brooklyn Arts movement are constructed from the latest installment “We have a hunch that some really citing it as one of Council . metals and polymers. According of the STEM Arts her motivations Performing the piece will be to the program notes, Herron’s program, which focuses magical things can happen when for the project. She the Tigue percussion trio, an focus in using this variety of on the connections you embed an artist into a scientific also emphasizes adventurous and well-known materials was to “[explore] the between art and science, department. The way an artist sees the collaborative perfor mance g roup based in forms and identities of many technology, engineering a s p e c t o f t h e Brooklyn, New York. One of its different materials and worked to a n d m a t h e m a t i c s . learning, the way they see research p r o j e c t , b o t h members, Amy Garapic, teaches frame them in ways that allowed S p e c i f i c a l l y, t h i s is totally different. And to translate within and between percussion at Dartmouth. The their nature to speak.” p e r fo r m a n c e i s t h e disciplines. group specializes in interpreting The concert, which takes place result of a collaboration something that sparks their interest “ T h e t i t l e , traditional forms and pop through this afternoon at 5 p.m. in Glycofi between the Hopkins or inspires them ... might create an ‘ A s s e m b l y , ’ new improvisational styles. Auditorium, will be divided into Center for the Arts re f e r s n o t o n l y The piece also includes a vocal two segments. The piece will be opportunity ... to see that work in a and the Thayer School t o e n g i n e e r s trio, with Justine Aronson and performed in the first segment and o f E n g i n e e r i n g . new light.” (and composers) Sarah Bailey singing soprano and then performed again, in exactly STEM Arts began creating materials Andrew Munn singing bass. All the same way, in the second. In three years ago with a a n d b u i l d i n g , three are prominent professional between, Herron will speak to the collaboration between -MARGARET LAWRENCE, HOPKINS CENTER but also the way singers who work in a variety of audience about what went into the guest composer Fay FOR THE ARTS PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR p r o j e c t s b r i n g genres from opera to chamber composition, its background and Wang and the biology people together,” music. The lyrics assigned to the its meaning. department. That first she wrote in the vocalists are as unconventional “[This performative approach] piece was inspired, according that were either wood, metal or event’s program notes. as the instruments themselves. is transfor mative, and when to Hop programming director plastic, and that were percussive Herron is at the forefront To echo the materials used to you hear it again, it’s amazing,” Margaret Lawrence, by microbial in some way, but that was a very of contemporary composition, design the instruments, Herron Lawrence said. “It’s like a whole resistance to antibiotics and wide range,” Lawrence said. “It’s specializing in the use of unusual has the vocalists singing words like new piece of music.” featured an actual explosion. Last kind of an unprecedented project year’s STEM Arts performance for us to have a composer create by composer Tristan Perich was a piece on instruments that were inspired by and performed in the designed and built by Dartmouth math department. Although this students.” collaboration between disciplines Having the composer and may seem improbable, Lawrence musicians in the room while the said she sees a logical relationship instruments were being designed between art and science. and built was a unique experience “We have a hunch that some for everyone involved. Joshua really magical things can happen Elliott Th ’19, a Ph.D. candidate when you embed an artist into a at Thayer who works primarily scientific department,” she said. in snow science and robotics, “The way an artist sees learning, said that he felt that Herron’s the way they see research is presence contributed positively to totally different. And to translate the process. something that sparks their interest “You can think of her as the or inspires them … might create consumer, in a sense,” he said. an opportunity … to see that work “So it was nice to actually have in a new light.” her [give input] … It definitely T h e H o p b e g a n c re at i n g gave it more purpose.” this year’s installment by asking Elliott’s project took the form of Thayer students and faculty about a play on a musical saw. Another their particular interests and graduate student who worked on philosophies about their work. the project, Shaojie Jiao Th ’18 , Lawrence then collaborated with is a computer scientist who works Thayer staff in identifying an with the theoretical principles artist and chose Molly Herron, a underlying the creation of sound. prominent composer known for Wanting to design an instrument COURTESY OF HOKUPA‘A using unconventional and newly that “vibrates for as long as invented instruments. possible,” he created an instrument The Dartmouth Hawai‘i club held its annual spring lu‘au in Collis Commonground this past Saturday.
By GRAY CHRISTIE
STUDENT IN THE LIMELIGHT AT LU‘AU