The Dartmouth 11/12/2021

VOL. CLXXVIII NO. 24

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Over $200,000 allegedly stolen from JED committee The Dartmouth, report to police says finalizes mental health assessment, Student Assembly hosts forum

BY ANDREW SASSER & Farah lindsey-almadani The Dartmouth Staff

NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The funds were apparently taken during the tenure of the former office manager, who worked at the paper part-time from 2009 until her resignation in September 2021.

BY LAUREN ADLER & ANDREW SASSER The Dartmouth Staff

Over a period of at least five years, funds totaling more than $200,000 were taken from accounts belonging to The Dartmouth, Inc., according to reports and documents submitted to the Hanover Police department

by The Dartmouth’s publisher and reviewed by reporters.

The missing funds were discovered and reported to the Hanover Police department in the wake of the “unexpected” resignation of The Dartmouth’s office manager, Nicole Chambers, from the newspaper’s employment on Sept. 28, according to a report submitted to Hanover police on Oct. 6. The Dartmouth publisher Olivia Gomez ’22 reported to police that funds had apparently

RAINY HIGH 55 LOW 37

been spent on “expenses having no apparent connection to the business or operations of a daily student newspaper in Hanover, N.H.” The report to the police details a series of PayPal transfers from The Dartmouth’s accounts to the former office manager in amounts that, according to the report, exceeded her “agreed-upon” pay for part-time work. Financial transactions also “were inaccurately recorded to the QuickBooks [accounting software] general ledger of The Dartmouth,” the report adds. Additionally, the Oct. 6 report describes expenses, paid for using the newspaper’s debit card, that were apparently unrelated to the operations of the newspaper, including ticket purchases on multiple airlines, hotel stays in several states and in the Caribbean and purchases at retailers such as

The Dartmouth

YOUNG CHILDREN ELIGIBLE FOR VAX PAGE 2

OPINION

VERBUM ULTIMUM: LET’S WORK THIS OUT JONES: STOP CLOSING THE DAMN GYM PAGE 3

SPORTS

HALL OF KRAME: DARTMOUTH’S 3-POINT ARC

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@thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2021 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.

SEE OFFICE MANAGER PAGE 2

Child care centers in Upper Valley face staffing shortages

BY SHENA HAN

NEWS

Amazon, Etsy, Petsmart, Urban Outfitters and Wayfair.

Hanover Police lieutenant Michael Schibuola declined to comment on the allegations, writing in an emailed statement that the department is investigating.

Chambers, who had access to a debit card, bank account, PayPal account and QuickBooks accounting software belonging to The Dartmouth, had been in charge of initiating payments to vendors and making entries in QuickBooks as part of her job, according to the Oct. 6 report. She resigned, the report adds, “after the Publisher had requested that [she] provide certain documents concerning the financial affairs of The Dartmouth.”

According to the documents,

Faced with labor shortages made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, child care centers in the Upper Valley have been forced to limit their capacity, raise tuition or shut down entirely. As a result, many working parents have been forced to face months-long waitlists for available classrooms.

The Green Mountain Children’s Center is set to close its Hartford campus in White River Junction within a month, according to executive director of the center’s remaining Claremont location Christy Loiselle. She said that staffing shortages in the Upper Valley have been affecting the Hartford campus for the past several years — long before COVID-19 sparked a nationwide labor shortage — with teachers leaving the field to pursue other career paths.

“It’s a big loss for the community, and it’s a big loss for the people that are remaining with the organization,” Loiselle said.

She added that the Green Mountain Children’s Center Claremont branch is also facing staffing shortages and is currently only operating three of its four classrooms. Loiselle said that state and federal governments must act to support childcare programs.

“Child care workers are paid a very low rate of pay,” she said. “The only way to increase that rate of pay is with government support or to increase tuition, and tuition is already very high for working families.”

According to Dartmouth College Child Care Center assistant director Abby Plummer, fewer people are going to school for early childhood education because of the high number of course credits required and low pay rates in the field.

Plummer said that the D4C has been successful in hiring new workers by increasing their starting wage, but

has had to raise tuition prices to make that possible.

“We had a lot of pushback [from families],” Plummer said. “But that was what we needed to do at the time, you know, in order to keep our staff and in order to get more staff.”

Families with two parents working full time have had the most difficulty with the lack of childcare, assistant psychology professor Caroline Robertson said. She added that because of the lack of availability, she and her husband were unable to send their three-year-old daughter to child care services for eight months during the pandemic. She and her husband had to split the day into long shifts to take care of their daughter.

“It was completely exhausting to work full-time jobs and also be fulltime childcare providers,” Robertson said.

Assistant geography and earth sciences professor Justin Mankin, who has two children — a three-yearold and a six-year-old — expressed dissatisfaction with high child care prices in the area, comparing them to “taking out a second mortgage on a house.”

However, Mankin added that child care providers are often not compensated enough for their work, and that the federal and state governments ought to provide more support for the childcare profession.

“It’s important to have things like universal basic pre-kindergarten and universal basic childcare,” Mankin said.

The nearly $2 trillion social safety net bill currently being pushed by the Biden administration — commonly known as the “Build Back Better Act” — would, among other provisions, fund universal pre-kindergarten for three- and four-year-olds and subsidize child care costs for six years.

Plummer echoed Mankin’s sentiment and said that it would SEE CHILD CARE PAGE 2

As the fall term comes to a close, Student Assembly and the undergraduate JED committee — one of five committees formed as part of Dartmouth’s recent partnership with the JED Foundation, a nonprofit promoting the emotional health of young people — have been working to gather student feedback on current mental health policies.

Through the “JED baseline survey,” the undergraduate JED committee is currently conducting an assessment of the College’s mental health policies, while also surveying student opinions about these policies through a “Healthy Minds Survey.”

Additionally, Student Assembly hosted a roundtable on Thursday to discuss areas of improvement in mental health policies with students.

JED Mental Health Assessment As part of the College’s recently announced partnership with JED, members of the interdisciplinary committee for the undergraduate College have begun surveying campus resources and policies for mental health. According to College Health Service director Mark Reed, who co-chairs the undergraduate committee alongside Spanish professor and former dean of the College Rebecca Biron, the committee is in the “final stages” of gathering information on the College’s mental health services — through a 50-page questionnaire provided by JED that delves into mental health policies and procedures.

According to a copy of the questionnaire obtained by The Dartmouth, an estimated 23% to 28% of the student body received treatment for mental health issues through counseling services at Dick’s House over the last academic year, including a total of 320 mental health crisis appointments during the 202021 academic year. Students waited, on average, between one and five days for a counseling appointment, with 15% of clients referred to off-campus counseling services, the report said. Additionally, the report noted that there were 24 psychiatric hospitalizations among students last year.

With regard to the College’s controversial medical leave policy — with which an investigation by The Dartmouth this summer found numerous issues — the “Healthy Minds Survey” reported that an estimated 45 students took medical leaves of absence for mental health reasons in the last academic year, with 30 students returning from mental health leave of absences in the last year.

Additionally, as part of the questionnaire, the undergraduate committee wrote that Dartmouth faces “specific challenges and limitations” in supporting student emotional health and substance abuse problems. The committee added that these challenges include a lack of long-term counseling options and the “difficulties of the D-Plan” in establishing a community for those recovering from substance abuse.

A c c o r d i n g t o Re e d , t h e questionnaire is mostly composed of yes or no questions about the various policies and procedures for mental health on campus. He added that in combination with the “Healthy Minds Survey” of undergraduate students and a site visit from JED staff in Feb. 2022, JED will help the College identify areas for improvement and set goals over the next four years.

“The two policies that students [on the committee] have had the most interest in are the Good [Samaritan] and medical leave policies,” Reed said. “Having students on the committee creates accountability for us, which is important as we work with JED on identifying policies we can improve.”

Biron said that the undergraduate committee has also begun discussing areas of improvement in mental health policies based on the results of the baseline survey — before the results of which will be sent to JED. For example, she noted that she felt that policies could be “more centralized” for students to access.

“We have had some problems communicating the policies to students previously,” Biron said. “In my view, we need to work on how the policies are explained to individuals and make them more user-friendly to access.”

Biron added that the committee plans to have a “concrete set of recommendations” to provide to the College by the end of spring term. She also said that the recommendations will be built from a combination of JED’s feedback and the committee’s own “observations and critiques.”

Jessica Chiriboga ’24, a student member of the undergraduate committee, said that the completion of the baseline survey was informed by student feedback — noting that members of the Class of 2024 had been “speaking a lot” about the medical leave policy in particular.

She added that the roundtable on Thursday was another avenue for students to “voice their concerns” about mental health policies to members of the committee.

“It’s been a long time coming and we’re hoping to get students from around campus to express their very real concerns,” Chiriboga said.

Chiriboga recommended that students continue to organize and express their thoughts on mental health policies to create an “ideal Dartmouth.”

“We don’t have to wait four years to make changes — we can start making changes happen now,” she said.

Student Assembly Mental Health Forum

Student Assembly hosted a mental health roundtable for students at One Wheelock on Thursday night.

The forum, announced in an email to campus, was facilitated by Student Assembly representatives Chiriboga and David Millman ’23. Students were invited to share questions, concerns and recommendations regarding mental health on campus.

Twenty minutes before the event took place, a small group of students gathered in front of One Wheelock to “demonstrate for real solutions to the campus mental health crisis,” according to a flyer distributed ahead of the event. The flyer asked students to bring signs indicating their “mental health demands” and listed four examples: changes to medical leave, more counselors, accessible scheduling and to “make it clear to admin that they can’t just brush off [students’] well-being.”

Student protestors Kari Bhavsar ’24 and Sebastian Muñoz-McDonald ’23 cited the lack of transparency between the College, Student Assembly and the student body as motivations for the demonstration — specifically related to the College’s medical leave policy.

“I’m demonstrating to just bring more light around mental health policies at Dartmouth right now, and how [the College] has not significantly changed in the past year given a lot of hardships that, especially [the Class of 2024] has faced,” Bhavsar said.

M u ñ o z - M c D o n a l d , w h o previously ran for Student Assembly, said that increased mental health support for students was a key part of his campaign platform.

“In the past year, Student Assembly has made some progress in terms of working with administration towards mental health solutions,” Muñoz-McDonald said. “However, I feel like [Student Assembly] could demand more out of the administration when it comes to changes — and not cede to small SEE MENTAL HEALTH PAGE 2

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Vaccination eligibility extended to children aged five to 11

BY ARIZBETH ROJAS The Dartmouth

Following approval from the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children from ages five to 11 are now eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, CDC director Rochella Walensky announced on Nov. 2 after months of anticipation. The development holds special significance at Dartmouth, as the expansion of vaccine eligibility to young children is one of the criteria that may lead the College to reconsider its indoor mask mandate.

According to the Oct. 13 Community Conversations, interim Provost David Kotz listed four criteria for lifting the indoor mask mandate: high compliance with weekly testing, low virus positivity rates in the Upper Valley, the comprehensive vaccination of on and off-campus College faculty and staff by Dec. 8 and vaccine eligibility for young children. Kotz noted at the time that he is “hopeful” the College will be able to relax the mask mandate following

the vaccination of children under 12, provided the other criteria continue to be met.

In an interview, Kotz said there is not yet a “specific timeline” for this change.

As of Nov. 10 — just eight days after their eligibility was announced — roughly 1 million children across the country have received their first dose of the vaccine. An additional 700,000 have scheduled appointments for the near future at pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens. This figure does not include children who are scheduled to receive their vaccine at local pediatricians’ offices and children’s hospitals, according to NPR. While the state of New Hampshire has not yet released official vaccination numbers for children, Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, stated at a recent press conference that the state had pre-ordered 15,000 doses, and urged parents to vaccinate their children as soon as possible.

New Hampshire executive councilor Joseph Kenney, a Republican whose district encompasses much of northern New Hampshire including

Hanover, said in an interview with The Dartmouth that he anticipates “there will be a transition period” for parents and a “wait and see approach.”

“We’ve got a good supply on hand and a good distribution network through public health centers, so we should be able to distribute [vaccines for] whatever the demand is,” Kenney said.

The children’s vaccine is 10 micrograms, one third of an adultsized dose. New Hampshire has 15,000 vaccine doses available and expects 14,000 additional doses in early 2022, according to Kenney.

The expanded eligibility comes as a relief to professors with young children.Physics professor Ryan Hickox — who has kids that, until recently, were ineligible for the vaccine — said that the indoor mask mandate has provided some protection against the virus for his children.

“From my family’s perspective, one concern about not wearing masks indoors would be that we could potentially spread the virus to our unvaccinated children,” Hickox

noted.

On Nov. 10, the state executive council’s budget meeting approved an additional $22.5 million for vaccine distribution — now matching Vermont’s distribution budget, Kenney said. Almost a month earlier, on Oct. 13, the executive council rejected $27 million in federal funds for vaccine outreach — with some councilors opposing the contract because of “language [that] was too strong” and which “possibly allowed for the enforcement of federal orders related to quarantine,” according to Kenney.

“I’ve always been supportive of vaccine choice myself,” Kenney said.

“As a former military officer, I’ve taken every vaccine that I can think of while in the military, because of my overseas deployments, but I think every family has a right to make their decision to vaccinate or not.”

According to Hickox, his entire family has opted to receive the vaccine.

“We’ve really just been looking forward to having our children have some level of protection,” he said.

This expansion in eligibility comes amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in the Upper Valley. From Nov. 4 to Nov. 10, the region saw an average of 675 new cases per day, a 27% increase from the previous seven-day period.

In order to be fully vaccinated, children must wait for three weeks after their first dose before receiving a second one. Then, according to the CDC’s website, they must wait another two-week period for their bodies to build immunity to the virus.

“The hope is that parents will get their younger children vaccinated quickly,” Kotz said.

Des pite expanded vaccine eligibility, Hickox noted it is “still important to keep in mind that the youngest children are not [vaccine] eligible yet,” as children under five remain ineligible.

While relaxing the indoor mask mandate during winter term is still feasible, it is subject to many factors.

With higher rates of vaccination among children, though, “there is some hope” that the mandate may be dropped, according to Kotz.

Limited availability at Dick’s House prompts student frustration

BY PARKER o’HARA The Dartmouth

This article was originally published on November 11, 2021.

A record number of students living on campus this fall has placed heavy demands on College operations — including the College Health Service.

This term, some students have reported weeks-long appointment waits and difficulties contacting Dick’s House staff.

One member of the Class of 2025, who requested anonymity for medical privacy reasons, said that after waking up with cold symptoms one morning, she called Dick’s House in an attempt to reschedule her appointment to an earlier date. Nearly two hours later, a Dick’s House employee returned her call and explained that there were no available appointments in the near future.

“Then the next day, when I got worse, I called again, and was on hold for 20, maybe 30 minutes,” she said.

“When I finally got through, I couldn’t choose an appointment time. They just were like, ‘We have one opening, and you have to come then.’”

Representatives from the College Health Services did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article. As of Wednesday evening, the earliest available inperson appointment was on Nov. 19, according to the Dartmouth Health Service’s online appointment scheduler.

After her appointment, the student noted that her condition did not improve. However, she said she felt hesitant about continuing to use Dick’s House’s services after what she described as an “unhelpful” experience trying to book an appointment.

“I didn’t really get better, but I didn’t really want to deal with [Dick’s House] again,” she said. “I just didn’t make another appointment and just dealt with it on my own.”

Marion Caldwell ’25 recounted a similar experience.

During bouts with the “freshmen plague” and pink eye, Caldwell said she tried to schedule a Dick’s House appointment. After realizing online appointments were booked for “several weeks,” she resorted to calling instead; on the call, a nurse sent her handouts related to pink eye and instructed her to call back in three days if her symptoms worsened.

After a day, Caldwell said she began experiencing impaired vision. When she called back in another attempt to schedule an appointment, she was told to call back in two days as initially instructed. However, 20 minutes later, she said she received a call back after the Dick’s House employee “changed [their] mind” and was able to schedule an appointment for the following day.

At her appointment, she was seen by a primary care provider, who diagnosed her with a viral infection and advised her to “drink tea before bed [and] use saline drops.”

“They told me I was fine and sent me on my way,” Caldwell said. “At this point, I was really not feeling fine, and I ended up going to [DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center] that night.”

At DHMC, Caldwell said she was diagnosed with pink eye and an acute upper respiratory infection. She was prescribed antibiotics because of her “high risk of a secondary infection.”

DHMC is located approximately 2.5 miles south of campus, but Caldwell was able to get a ride from her undergraduate advisor. Caldwell said that the College rule against firstyear students having cars on campus,

HANNAH LI/THE DARTMOUTH

Multiple students reported multi-day wait times and issues scheduling appointments.

in addition to Dartmouth’s relative isolation, makes students particularly dependent on Dick’s House.

When Ellie Cliff ’22 woke up with what she thought was a sinus infection, she attempted to call Dick’s House “eight or nine times” before an employee picked up and instructed Cliff to come to the office in person to schedule an appointment. After waiting at Dick’s House for nearly 45 minutes, she said she was finally able to speak to an employee, who advised her to go to ClearChoiceMD Urgent Care in Lebanon instead. “[The employee] was like, ‘We aren’t making appointments now,’” she said. “[The employee] said that was the note they got from their higher-ups, to push everything to

ClearChoice.”

ClearChoiceMD Urgent Care, located about 5.5 miles from campus in Lebanon, is even further from campus than DHMC. Cliff, like many other Dartmouth students, did not have a means of transportation to drive to Lebanon. Instead, she opted to continue waiting at Dick’s House in case another student canceled their appointment or failed to show up.

After 20 minutes, Cliff was able to see a primary care provider, who diagnosed her with a sinus infection and ear infection, prescribing antibiotics for the latter.

Despite the inaccessibility of DHMC and ClearChoiceMD and a backlog of student appointments, Dick’s House is closed on weekends,

according to a schedule on their website. Many students who fall sick on Saturday or Sunday, or who need to pick up prescriptions from the Dick’s House pharmacy, have few alternative options.

Ryan Waaland ’22 found himself in this position when he needed to pick up a prescription from Dick’s House over the weekend.

“I just didn’t have medicine over the weekend, which isn’t really safe for the medicine that I’m taking,” said Waaland. “On Saturday, I couldn’t take the medicine. I tried to get a hold of [Dick’s House], but couldn’t get to them. Fortunately, I finally got in touch with their nurse helpline, and they were able to get the prescription transferred to CVS.”

Report followed office Forum attracts small demonstration manager’s“unexpected” September resignation FROM MENTAL HEALTH PAGE 1

FROM OFFICE MANAGER PAGE 1

The Dartmouth’s investigation into the allegedly misappropriated funds has been hindered by the apparent deletion of QuickBooks data from a company-owned laptop that was in Chambers’ possession, as well as information missing from Venmo, PayPal and Amazon accounts used by the paper, which were also apparently deleted. Additionally, “on or around” the date of Chambers’ resignation, a “large number” of email messages were deleted from two email accounts belonging to The Dartmouth, one of which was associated with a PayPal account that The Dartmouth used, according to the report to the police.

The financial statements of The Dartmouth are reviewed each year by a certified public accounting firm in Lebanon, and the annual financial statements are presented to and approved each year by the organization’s Board, according to the report to the police.

“Recent financial statements presented to the Board of Proprietors ... do not show the travel and retail charges, and they do not show many of the PayPal transfers referenced above, as employee compensation,” the report states.

In an emailed statement, Gomez wrote that The Dartmouth, in consultation with its Board of Proprietors, is working with its insurer to take actions to eliminate “adverse” financial impacts and strengthen its internal controls over accounting.

Gomez added that, despite the apparent misappropriation, The Dartmouth’s financial position “remains strong.”

“The Dartmouth’s endowment has not been directly affected by recent events,” Gomez wrote. “Its editorial operations have not been, and will not be, affected.”

The report to the police also states that Chambers had expressed a “willing[ness] to repay” the funds through her lawyer. Chambers’ lawyer, Joseph Garrison of Franconia, New Hampshire, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Dartmouth is published

by The Dartmouth, Inc., which is organized as a non-profit corporation in New Hampshire. The Dartmouth was founded in 1799 and is America’s oldest college newspaper. Although The Dartmouth leases office space from Dartmouth College in Robinson Hall, the organization is independent of the College, and is supported financially by advertising sales, investment income and donations.

adjustments [or] surface-level changes.”

Muñoz-McDonald said that these “surface-level changes” include the partnership that Student Assembly launched with the mental health app Calm earlier this term.

During the forum, which saw around 20 attendees, Biron and Reed stressed JED’s role within the College and the importance of mental health, respectively. Biron discussed how JED’s “comprehensive approach” includes both reducing the stigma surrounding mental health and fostering community.

When the forum opened to questions, students asked about the role of JED, academic policies surrounding extensions for mental health and how much of the Call

to Lead campaign funds would be directed to improving College mental health services.

When questioned about JED’s role within mental health services, Reed said that mistrust between students and administration is present.

“There is a trust problem, and that’s real,” Reed said. “My goal would be to increase trust, and increase transparency as much as possible,” noting that the forum was part of working towards this goal.

Involuntary medical leaves — another topic asked about at the forum — are an uncommon occurrence, according to Reed.

Between 50 and 60 students take medical leaves each year on average — a figure that includes reasons unrelated to mental health — and 90% of leaves are “initiated by

students.”

“There are probably three to five students a year out of the 1,800 students that we see, who — even after the support and the hospital — are in a state where they continue to not be safe, where they need a level of care that is not available on campus and are felt to need a medical leave,” Reed added.

H e a c k n ow l e d g e d s t u d e n t frustration on the issue of mental health.

“There is this feeling [that] not enough is being done,” Reed said, “and I think that forums like this, where we talk [to] student groups — like Mental Health Union and Student Assembly — are important.”

Chiriboga is a former member of The Dartmouth staff.

Local child care centers shutting down FROM CHILD CARE PAGE 1

take financial support from the state government to keep child care centers open. She added that the College has helped to advertise hiring and to subsidize pay for D4C workers, which has allowed the D4C to continue to operate close to full capacity.

“We’re thankful to be in the minority,” Plummer said. “But we wish we could do something for these other centers that are having to really

cut back on classrooms.”

Robertson said she wants the College to do more to support its working parents. She added that her friends at peer institutions — such as Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University — have received childcare subsidies, subscriptions to childcare services and teaching relief, all of which she said would greatly improve her

situation.

Several child care centers in the Upper Valley, including the D4C, hire Dartmouth students as part of the College’s work-study program. Tejal Schwartz ’25, who started working at the D4C a few weeks ago, said she is enjoying her experience so far.

“I know that they maybe can use the extra help,” she said. “And that’s why I’m here and the other students are there, to assist the teachers.”

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD

Verbum Ultimum: Let’s Work this Out Closing the gym is an extreme and unfair measure — but both students and administrators have a role to play in de-escalating tensions.

One week ago, interim athletics director Peter Roby ’79 announced that, due to a lack of compliance with masking rules as well as “inappropriate behavior” by students when asked to mask by gym staff, students would be barred from Alumni Gymnasium for two days — Monday and Tuesday of this week.

This closure — the second this term, after an earlier one-day shutdown in October — is demonstrably unjust, a collective punishment that negatively impacts both the physical and mental well-being of the student body. Yet the student behaviors described in Roby’s email — which have been observed at other places throughout this campus, including in the dining hall and classrooms — also have no place on this campus. Simply put, both sides have a part to play in reducing the current tension: the College, for its part, must stop foisting unjust collective punishments on students and commit itself to more coherent and rational pandemic policies, while students must take the simple step of treating the College employees who do so much for this community with the respect they deserve.

From both fairness and efficacy standpoints, the College’s decision to once again close the gym makes little sense. Nobody gains or learns anything when the gym is closed; in unfairly punishing the vast majority of students who were following the mask mandate,these measures are highly unlikely to increase compliance long-term. This is, after all, the second time the College has shuttered the gym — why should this time work any better than the first, when students are now even more resentful and mistrustful of the administration? What’s more, for a College supposedly attempting to demonstrate increased concern and care for mental health, the closures — which hinder students from fulfilling a basic need for physical activity — seem especially tone-deaf.

But while the College should bear much of the blame, students must also acknowledge their own role in creating a community of respect — or lack thereof. In a year when verbal and physical attacks on service employees have increased nationwide, it’s troubling to think that such a culture of nastiness could also pervade at Dartmouth. If an employee asks you to put on a mask, the correct course of action is simple — put on your mask.

Issues with student disrespect go beyond just masking and COVID-19-related policies.

Members of this Editorial Board have personally observed students engaging in verbal confrontations with dining hall employees, leaving messes behind for staff to clean up and generally treating poorly the people whose labor

PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

makes the operation of this College possible. No matter how frustrated you are by DDS’s long waits, it’s not OK to treat their employees with blatant rudeness and disrespect. The same goes for the overstressed student workers at Novack Cafe and the custodial staff in dormitories. If anything, confrontations with employees only increase the likelihood of negative consequences for students — as evidenced by the gym closure.

For the College’s part, a few key changes in enforcement could make a tremendous difference. Individual, rather than collective, punishments should take precedence. Take down student’s names — standard practice during busts of dorm parties — to avoid confrontation in the moment. If someone repeatedly violates the mask policy, rescind that individual’s gym access for a week rather than shutting down access for the whole student body.

In addition to enforcement changes, a few key reforms in the College’s mask policies could make them more fair and equitable. Is it really reasonable to expect fully vaccinated students to wear masks during intense exercise? Instead, in light of consistently low case counts this term and near universal vaccination on campus, the College might consider transitioning to less restrictive COVID-19 mitigation measures for the winter term — like moving exercise equipment farther apart to increase social distancing, for instance. The gym closure issue has also highlighted inequities between varsity athletes and other students — the gyms for athletes have remained open, and teams, on a special exemption from the College, are able practice and play games without masking. Yes, athletes do test twice per week — but why not also extend this option to test more in place of masking to the general student population?

Simply put, making masking policies make more sense could go a long way in resolving current tensions. But at the same time, students should also be mindful of wearing their masks, especially when the situation calls for it — like in a classroom setting with faculty who are older and more vulnerable.

This past year has strained student relationships with administration to the point where the student body has almost no faith left in top college leadership. Measures like closing the gym, though far from the worst of the College’s missteps, are unnecessary and punitive, and we commend those who have spoken out in a respectful manner. But telling off a gym employee who asks you to put your mask above your nose isn’t helping matters, either. Respect requires active participation from all sides — and it’s time for our community to demonstrate that.

NINA SLOAN ’24: WHERE’S MY JACKET?

STAFF COLUMNIST TANNER JONES ’22

Stop Closing the Damn Gym

The recent closures of the Zimmerman Fitness Center are baseless and harmful.

This article was originally published on November 9, 2021.

I nearly had an aneurysm in early October when the gym was closed to “incentivize mask wearing.”

Last Friday, when I was warned that the gym will be closed November 8 and 9, ostensibly to punish unmasked students, I almost did something, well, destructive.

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. And while I am certain that the administration, stubborn as it is, will continue to keep closed the only fitness facility available to non-varsity athletes, I hope at least to reveal the absurdity of Dartmouth’s gym closures.

Dartmouth’s decision-makers may continue to ignore the power of the pen (see Marc Novicoff’s recent scathing critique), but with this column, I hope to at least contribute to the ever-growing record of evidence that highlights Dartmouth’s inability to make coherent — or even competent — policy.

To the administration’s credit, the COVID-19 pandemic poses both urgent and difficult challenges. The logic of closing the gym, I imagine, goes something like this: Closing the gym could save lives because, otherwise, students will exercise unmasked and spread a fatal disease. On paper, that sounds somewhat reasonable — but only if your decision making paradigm treats November 2021 as March 2020.

For starters, students are unmasked all the time. My colleague Jeremy Gart noted that other Dartmouth spaces — such as the Class of 1953 Commons dining room — host unmasked students packed in far more densely than they are at the gym. Furthermore, at this point, hardly anyone wears a mask in the library. And, as everyone knows, every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, hundreds of unmasked students pack fraternity basements completely unmasked. Some dance parties feature wall-to-wall bodies.

Now that might sound really bad. We probably have tons of positive cases and even some COVID-19 deaths as a result of this behavior, right?

No, we do not. For most of the term, the active case count on the College’s COVID-19 dashboard has remained steady at between zero and the midsingle digits. Even last week, when cases hit a high for the term, the case count topped out at only 10 among undergraduates. It’s now down to six.

Why have cases remained so low? Because we have this medical innovation called the mRNA vaccine, which 98.8% of Dartmouth undergraduates have received. The COVID-19 vaccine reduces viral transmission of the Delta variant by 66% and is roughly 90% effective in preventing mortality. These effects are most pronounced among Americans under the age of 35, the overwhelming majority of Zimmerman gym-goers.

In other words, once you’re vaccinated, it is difficult to get, and harder to die from, a disease that has a 1.6% mortality rate in the United States to begin with. In fact, Dartmouth has not publicly reported any COVID-19 deaths among students, staff or faculty. Moreover, over each of the past four

weeks, less than 1% of all Dartmouth community members have tested positive for COVID-19. And let’s not forget, our COVID-19 tests inevitably render false positives — the number of true positives is even smaller than we think.

The science is clear. Even San Francisco, a city of nearly 900,000 and one of the most left-wing cities in America, no longer requires masks at gyms for fully vaccinated patrons. San Francisco’s policy, of course, is now in line with most of the rest of the country. Dartmouth is a glaring outlier.

So, why is Zimmerman closed as punishment for a lack of compliance with a totally unreasonable and unscientific masking policy? I truly have no clue, especially given that gym closures bear consequences for thousands of Dartmouth community members. Many club and intramural athletes value daily training. Other students, myself included, are on rigorous bodybuilding or powerlifting programs. Many more simply cherish daily exercise. And yet, with the closure of the gym, non-varsity athletes have no means of exercising through weight lifting or most forms of cardiovascular exercise (and even running outdoors has grown increasingly difficult in the cold).

The immediate impact of the administration’s decision is thus to foster intense resentment among those non-varsity athletes who value exercise.

Zimmerman closures may also, in time, breed resentment between non-varsity athletes and varsity athletes, who are free to practice and play maskless on a special exemption from the college. Allegedly a policy designed to reinforce Dartmouth’s community standards, as per Athletics Director Peter Roby, Zimmerman’s closure will only drive the Dartmouth community apart.

But perhaps the most serious impact is on student mental health. Exercise is empirically proven to reduce anxiety and depression. Some data even suggests that regular exercise is just as effective — and may even be more effective — than antidepressants. From personal experience, I know the tremendous power of exercise as an antidepressant. These data become a major concern when you consider that suicide represents a larger threat to life among Dartmouth students than COVID-19, as the last year has shown.

I have never had less faith in the Dartmouth administration and staff. Sadly, Zimmerman’s closure is just the most recent example of administrative incompetence. More and more, it feels that those who oversee Dartmouth’s facilities are out to get the students who use them. If not for the school’s outstanding faculty, I would not find Dartmouth deserving of its reputation as one of America’s premier academic institutions.

While I expect nothing to come of this piece, writing provided my intense frustration a nonviolent release. To the Dartmouth administration, I will say: you are welcome. And hopefully, when it comes to gym closures and masking requirements, Interim-Director Roby can change course. Perhaps the athletics department can learn from its recent reinstatement of five foolishly defunded sports teams — it is, in fact, possible to correct awful decisions.

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION STAFF

Opinion Asks: A Return to Normalcy?

As the fall term begins to draw to a close, marking the end of Dartmouth’s first inperson term since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it is important to reflect on the term.

In an Opinion Asks published earlier this term, we asked what writers perceived to be the largest challenges of the term. Now, we want to ask: What were some of the most successful parts of the fall term? How should the various successes and failures of this term inform the College’s actions going forward?

Coming into the term, I was nervous about the transition back to in-person classes. I felt like I barely had any time my freshman year, and going back to in person seemed like it would only make time a rarer commodity. While time is difficult to manage at Dartmouth, I have found that my time has been spent better this term. Being in-person forces small social interactions and gatherings that simply ceased to exist in the height of the pandemic.

Virtual learning acted as a barrier to this, but my interpersonal connections have increased in both frequency and depth since its cessation. As the College goes forward, I hope they remember that technology cannot and should not be a solution for everything, and in-person human interaction has to be prioritized in every realm possible.

— Katherine Arrington ’24 Students and professors alike have made in-person learning one of the most rewarding

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experiences of the year. I only had two terms of in-person learning before COVID-19 hit, but I never truly appreciated how much I valued it until this term. Even though I can only see half of my classmates’ and professors’ faces, the energy of being back in the classroom makes it all worth it. Yes, professors have had to continue to adapt to a new classroom environment, retaining many of their online learning practices and adapting to the new challenges of the year. It also hasn’t been a seamless transition to the year for students, as we reconcile the promise of this year with all of the loss of last year.

Everyone has risen to the challenge, and relatively promising COVID-19 rates, combined with our general tenacity, has made for a successful term.

As the College updates and refreshes its policies for the new term, a keen eye to keeping in-person learning as intact as possible should prevail.

— Spencer Allen ’23 Overall, I think the term was successful in reestablishing a relative sense of normalcy on campus. This is the first term that has felt entirely normal; from the Homecoming bonfire to inperson classes, it is reminiscent of the Dartmouth I remember. With that being said, there remain many frustrations that must be addressed. From the seemingly never-ending housing crisis to random gym closures to the dilapidated mental health infrastructure, there is much work that still needs to be completed to improve the Dartmouth experience.

— Natalie Dokken ’23

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PAGE 4

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

‘Poor Clare’ shines light on the complications of diversity in theater

BY JESSICA LI

The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on November 9, 2021.

Diversity in theater has long been a topic of controversy, confusion and complications — and the Dartmouth theater department is no exception. As a college, Dartmouth has come a long way in terms of diversity, but — as the recent staged reading of the play “Poor Clare” demonstrates — what diversity looks like and how to achieve it is no simple task.

“Poor Clare,” written by Chiara Atik, is a satirical retelling of the story of Saint Clare and Saint Francis. An allegory for modernday socioeconomic class divides, Clare — a privileged and wealthy teenage girl — is inspired to take radical action after hearing Francis make a statement about how the poor are neglected.

“I think, in a modern context, we have a lot of guilt surrounding poverty, but also, the whole play is about how everybody has this guilt but doesn’t really do anything about it,” said Jacqui Byrne ’22, who played the lead role of Clare.

In the Echo Theater Company world premiere of the play on Oct. 19, the character of Clare — and many of the main cast members, for that matter — were played by people of color. In contrast, Dartmouth’s version only included two people of color out of the seven cast members: One plays Clare’s mother, and the other plays a beggar.

Atik doesn’t specify the races of the characters in her script. In fact, she writes that “every character can be played by any ethnicity” and the play “should be cast in a diverse and color-conscious manner.”

Color-conscious casting is often considered in contrast to colorblind casting. Colorblind casting attempts to cast without considering an actor’s race, ethnicity and body type, among

other factors.

Women’s, gender and sexuality s t u d i e s l e c t u re r a n d fo r m e r theater performer Misty De Berry disapproves of this practice of colorblind casting.

“I also think ‘color-blind’ as a term is rather absurd, or not ideal,” said De Berry. “We cannot, nor should not, ‘not see’ — or take into account one’s visible markers of identity — as such markers shape both social and aesthetic narratives.”

Color-conscious casting, on the other hand, explicitly considers these factors and their implications.

De Berry said that, though she is skeptical of the concept, colorconscious casting does have value. “ I c a n h e a r t h e p i vo t i n ‘consciousness’ that rebukes the notion that one’s race or body is something that is invisible,” De Berry said.

“Poor Clare” was cast at the same time as “Ridgeway” and “Saturday Night/Sunday Morning” — two other staged readings this term.

Theater professor Peter Hackett, who directed “Poor Clare” and ran the auditions, said that students could only be cast in one of the three staged readings because they all rehearsed at the same time.

Hacket said that he believes the group of people who auditioned for these three productions was very diverse. However, he noted that oftentimes, the vision for a play has to be adapted based on the audition pool.

One factor that may have influenced the racial breakdown of “Poor Clare,” was the specifications for the casts of “Saturday Night/ Sunday Morning” and “Ridgway.”

The former required an all-Black cast, while the latter had specific gender and racial requirements for roles, according to the cast breakdown on the audition website, which is no longer available. This context may explain why white actors gravitated towards “Poor Clare.”

COURTESY OF ROB STRONG PHOTOGRAPHY

Byr ne says that it’s widely understood within the department that most people can theoretically take on any role, race and gender notwithstanding.

“We’ve definitely discussed colorblind casting, color-conscious casting,” said Byrne. “I think [colorconscious casting] was definitely a newer term that we didn’t talk about as much. I feel like, universally, in all of the shows, anyone can play anyone — except for the roles that are assigned to a person of color.”

For example, when Hackett directed and cast “1984” a few years ago, he casted a woman as the villain — rather than the typical male — because she had the best audition for the role.

Hackett also explained that each student actor could choose which of the three plays they wanted to be in the most, effectively giving them a level of choice in their role.

“There were cases where my first choices [for certain characters] I

didn’t get because… they were more valuable or playing a bigger role in one of the other plays that they said they wanted to do,” said Hackett.

“So it was entirely up to the students — and always is, actually — in terms of what roles they accept.”

Even if color-conscious casting were properly implemented, De Berry said that it merely scratches the surface of what true diversity would look like. Beyond skin tone, there are other identity markers to consider, such as sexual orientation and able-bodiedness.

“It’s not just about what bodies you put in parts. It’s about why particular plays are chosen… and who gets to make decisions well before we even get to auditions,” said De Berry. “Race, class, gender and even access to cultural expression doesn’t transgress the utopian promise of theater.”

The theater department has already taken some steps to expand diversity, according to Hackett.

Students are invited to propose plays for the department to put on each year, and there has been discussion about involving students in the play selection committee. Additionally, the theater department recently removed the interview requirement to take THEA 30, “Acting I” in the hopes of lowering entry barriers and encouraging more students to get involved in theater.

Given the department’s majoritywhite faculty, De Berry encouraged a student-led discussion about diversity, so that students feel safe and comfortable enough to speak up, without fear of retribution later on in their careers.

T he Dartmouth contacted multiple students of color involved with the theater department for this article. All declined to comment on the record or if granted anonymity, and two expressed concerns about potential repercussions for their trajectory in the department if they gave an interview.

Green To Go: Carpenter and Main serves Vermont on a plate

BY ALEJANDRO MORALES The Dartmouth

This article was originally published on November 9, 2021.

This past weekend, I crossed the Connecticut River and visited the town of Norwich. A friend told me about a great restaurant there called Carpenter and Main. The fact that Bruce MacLeod, chef and owner of the restaurant, graduated from Dartmouth in 1984 piqued my interest, so I eagerly called the restaurant to make my reservation.

Like many other Dartmouth students, my geographic awareness does not extend beyond the bounds of Hanover. When I looked up the directions to Carpenter and Main, I didn’t realize it was a five-minute drive across the bridge from campus.

As MacLeod would later tell me, some students walk all the way to the restaurant during the summer. Out of all the restaurants I’ve reviewed in the Upper Valley, this is easily the most accessible one transportation-wise.

I arrived at 8:15 pm. A tree near the entrance was decorated in warm lights, and upon entry, there was an antechamber to place your jacket and belongings. A sign saying “Person” hung on the bathroom door (as a nonbinary person, this earned bonus points from me). Afterwards, I entered the main dining area. A waiter guided me and my partner down the third hall to a little room at the back left of the main building. In total, I saw three dining rooms: the first, a large, low-lit bar room with brick-red walls and dark wooden chairs; the second, a dark elegant room that seemed a bit more private than the first; and the third, the room in which we were seated.

It took the style of a classic New England living room. Warm and cool lotus-shaped lights hung from the lightpink walls and balanced each other out, illuminating the oil-paintings of New England landscapes and a large fireplace at the center of one wall.

Above the fireplace, a large mirror hung that opened the physical space of the room; at its sides, two cozy nooks hid from the rest of the room, allowing for an even more private experience.

Around the fireplace, pumpkins, dried wheat and rustic reds and oranges gave light to the restaurant’s seasonal autumn aesthetic. Besides the two nooks, there were only three tables in the room. It feels relaxing and intimate.

Our server, Eric, brought us a standard size wine bottle full of water and proceeded to light a candle at our table. The tablecloths were spotlessly white and the cutlery had a weight to it that I really appreciated. I couldn’t hear any music from this dining room, but the light chatter coming from the two tables gave yet another sense of warmth to the room. The other guests seemed to be regulars from how they talked to their server. On the drinks menu, house cocktails like the “Ping Pong Cocktail” called to mind Dartmouth pong and the restaurant’s proximity to campus. The menu had some vegetarian options, and I ordered the ones that seemed the most appealing: the “Cheddar Cheese Puff Sticks,” “Maple Cider Brussels Sprouts,” a spinach salad and a roasted delicata squash.

The cheddar puff sticks came out first, followed by the brussels sprouts and the spinach salad. The puff sticks, vertically stacked in a small glass, consisted of a half-dozen, 6-inch long, lightly-baked puff pastry sticks with a stream of baked cheddar down the middle. The taste was incredible. The light airiness of the puff pastry, with its buttery sweetness, complemented the crunchy saltiness of the baked cheese.

For a $7 appetizer, I really enjoyed it, and had to resist ordering more.

The brussels sprouts were beautifully roasted, and they unfurled during baking, allowing for the maple cider glaze to infuse every layer. Their sweetness balanced out the natural bitterness, and the cider added an unexpected but pleasant citrusy aftertaste. I’d recommend these to anyone over the brussels sprouts at Foco. For a $7 dish, however, it would have been nice to see some creativity in texture with almonds or some other neutral, crunchy ingredient.

The spinach salad consisted of spinach, dried shiitake mushrooms, blue cheese and sherry vinaigrette.

It was perfectly dressed, as to not overwhelm the other flavors. The

shiitake packed a punch of flavor, and their crunch paired well with the creamy, rich blue cheese. As a vegetarian who misses bacon, this combination felt like a solid substitute.

Eric, our server, told me the blue cheese was the signature ingredient of the salad, and his statement held true.

Sourced locally from Vermont, this Jasper Hill Bayley Hazen Blue cheese was served in large chunks — a risky choice given the general sentiment towards blue cheese. But the creamy nuttiness of the cheese, which melted in my mouth, neutralized the acidity of the vinaigrette. The salad’s $9 price proved its worth with every bite.

Eric then brought out a roasted cauliflower dish; “Compliments of the chef,” he said. It consisted of cauliflower, mixed greens, pecans, grapes and tiny morsels of white cheddar. It was warm, which I enjoyed, and the dish proved to be well-thought out. The cauliflower broke apart easily in my mouth, with some hints of garlic coming through. The grapes added a natural sweetness to the dish, while also balancing out the dry-mouth feel from the pecans. The grapes’ purple skin complemented the purple lettuce in the mixed greens. Finally, the cheddar kicked in at random points, pairing especially well with the sweetness of the grapes. I would not have hesitated to get this dish for $9.

Eric then brought out my entree, the delicata squash. MacLeod aced the presentation on this dish, as evidenced by my gasp when I saw it. The dish was half of a stuffed squash, skin still on, sitting on a bed of mixed greens. The green-yellow contrast pleased the eyes.

The quinoa and crispy kale stuffing added a nice texture to the tender squash, and the tofu in the stuffing gave the entree a hearty meatiness. The dish wasn’t very seasoned, and I mean that in the best way possible. It allowed the squash to shine, encapsulating the flavors of fall in Vermont. At $19, it was a bit on the costly side for a vegetarian entree, but every bite of the dish and its visual elegance made it worth it.

Finally, I ordered some desserts to end the night: a maple crème brûlée and a scoop of house-made star anise ice cream. As a crème brûlée lover, I was ready to fully critique this dish.

ALEJANDRO MORALES/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

When it came out, though, I knew there’d be nothing to critique. The crust was perfect, solid but not burnt.

The custard was neither over nor undercooked. Oftentimes, crème brûlée can be soupy or too flan-like, or even cakey in some instances. Here, it was baked to perfection. Vanilla beans dotted the custard, which speaks to the authenticity of the restaurant. Other than the light yet delicious maple flavor, it was a traditional crème brûlée.

In fact, it was the best one I’ve ever had, and for $7. The house-made ice cream ($3 per scoop) shocked me. The heavy, rich, thickness of the cream was irresistible, and the star anise reminded me of my grandmother’s house in Colombia. Like Tuckerbox’s Kunefe, I couldn’t help but smile with each bite of these desserts.

I wholeheartedly recommend Carpenter and Main. It feels like

fine dining, but the prices are still pretty affordable. Furthermore, MacLeod hosts $10 Sunday dinners with full courses, as a way to give back to the community during the pandemic. I think a Sunday outing to the restaurant would be a perfect way to spend a night with friends and loved ones. What strikes me most about this restaurant, though, is how well it realizes MacLeod’s goal: “We use goods from local farms yearround to help integrate the spirit and distinctive flavors of Vermont.” From the constantly changing, local menu to the decorations of the dining rooms, MacLeod’s constant attention to his restaurant is ever present and easily noticed. I’ll be coming back for more throughout my studies, and I hope you do the same.

Rating:

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS

SPORTS

Hall of Krame: Behind Dartmouth’s (Rising) 3-Point Arc

BY JUSTIN KRAMER

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

The 3-ball just wouldn’t fall for Big Green men’s basketball on Tuesday night against Boston College in its first game back since March 2020.

Seemingly insistentInsistent that the team’s first points of the season come via the 3-pointer, Dartmouth took its first four field goal attempts from behind the arc, missing the mark and falling behind 7-0 early.

Brendan Barry ’20 finally hit the team’s first field goal with a 3-pointer seven minutes into the game after six missed team threes, but at that point, the Big Green was already down 13-5.

T h e g a m e p l a n e a rl y fo r Dartmouth seemed clear: shoot a barrage of 3-pointers to keep up with its ACC opponent. At halftime, Dartmouth found itself down 42-19 on a paltry 2-14 shooting from three.

The second half was slightly better, with Dartmouth making four of 15 3-pointers, but the team’s final tally in the 73-57 loss was 6-29 from deep, a 20.7% 3-point percentage. The 29 3-point attempts — including 11 from Barry — represented more than half of the Big Green’s 56 total field goal attempts.

Head coach David McLaughlin took over before the 2016-17 season, and if the spike in 3-point field goal attempts since then is any indication, we should continue to see the Dartmouth offense rely heavily on threes.

In the first six years of the decade before McLaughlin took over, the Big Green typically shot between 15

and 17 3-point attempts per game, topping out in the 2014-15 season at 17.24 3PA/G and averaging 16.30 3PA/G over the six-year span. Since then, Dartmouth has averaged 21.80 attempted threes per game over McLaughlin’s tenure, including 24.03 3PA/G in 2018-19.

It’s important to put this increase in three-point attempts in comparison with the rest of the Ivy League, though. Ever since Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, the Greatest Shooter of All Time™, shattered 3-point records en route to back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player awards in 2014-15 and 201516, the Ivy League — like most of college and professional basketball — has become very three-happy, averaging about 23 3-point attempts per game or more over the past four seasons.

Before Dartmouth’s recent surge in 3-point attempts, the team consistently ranked near the bottom of the conference in 3PA/G. Among the 10 seasons played by each of the Ancient Eight teams between 2010-11 and 2019-20 (80 seasons combined), Dartmouth’s six seasons preceding McLaughlin’s tenure all fell in the bottom quarter in terms of 3-point attempts per game, with five seasons in the bottom 20%.

Even with the Big Green’s increase in 3PA/G, Dartmouth still has fallen below the Ivy League average in nine of the past 10 seasons.

Looking at Dartmouth’s 3-point attempts per game compared to the Ivy League average, the 201819 season, in which Dartmouth shot 24.03 3PA/G, stands out.

That season, Barry took 182

threes — more than six per game — representing 56 more 3-point attempts than anyone else on the team, and 62 more than his previous career high.

Barry’s arrival at Dartmouth in 2016-17 coincided with McLaughlin’s hiring and Dartmouth’s 3-point surge, although Barry only shot just over two 3-point attempts per game his freshman year. When he redshirted the 2019-20 season, Dartmouth dropped back down to 21.69 3PA/G. This was still Dartmouth’s second highest total of the decade, so the Big Green’s newfound prioritization of 3-point shooting can only partially be attributed to Barry, but having him back after a stint at Temple University last year should significantly increase Dartmouth’s 3-point attempts nonetheless.

Barry’s return and the likely boost in 3-point attempts is good news for a Dartmouth offense that has relied heavily on the 3-pointer during McLaughlin’s coaching tenure. Barry’s 2-for-11 shooting performance from beyond the arc on Tuesday night was a far cry from his 44.5% career 3-point percentage entering the game, which ranked fifth among active players in Division I men’s basketball. He also led all Ivy League qualifiers in 3-point percentage in 2018-19, and his 44.5% overall mark that season from deep was 10th in the nation.

I t ’s n o c o i n c i d e n c e t h a t Dartmouth put up three of its highest four 3-point percentages of the decade in the three seasons that Barry has played for the team so far, from 2016-2019. Dartmouth’s increase in 3-point attempts has

JUSTIN KRAMER / THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

generally corresponded with an increase in efficiency from downtown despite the league’s average 3-point accuracy decreasing (see graph below). Without Barry last year, however, Dartmouth’s 3-point percentage dropped dramatically.

Dartmouth shot a combined 36% on 3-point attempts from 2016-17 through 2018-19 but shot only 32% from deep in its last full season.

With Barry returning this year to an offense that has depended heavily on 3-point production during

McLaughlin’s tenure, we can expect Dartmouth to keep shooting a high volume of threes in line with the rest of the Ivy League. In order to have a chance at the team’s first postseason conference tournament appearance since the playoff was created before the 2016-17 season, the Big Green will need to improve dramatically over its season-opening 20.7% 3-point percentage against Boston College and match or exceed the team’s efficiency at a high volume from the 2018-19 season.

Dartmouth football impresses in 31-7 rout of No. 16 Princeton

BY WILL ENNIS

The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on November 11, 2021.

Dartmouth football faced off with No. 16 Princeton University on Friday night, marking the 100th meeting between the two programs.

The Big Green dominated in every phase of the game, notching a 31-7 victory — arguably the team’s most impressive of the year — and improving its record to 7-1.

Dartmouth now stands tied with Princeton atop the Ivy League standings with two games to play.

In recent history, Dartmouth’s matchups with Princeton have proven highly consequential. Two years ago, both teams were undefeated when they met at Yankee Stadium, a game that Dartmouth won 27-10. The year before that, both teams were likewise undefeated when they faced off, but Princeton emerged victorious.

This year, the Tigers were again undefeated entering play, but the Big Green suffered a 19-0 loss to Columbia University on Oct. 22. To maintain any real chance of defending its Ivy League title, Dartmouth had to win on Friday.

Head coach Buddy Teevens ’79 talked about the mood in the locker room headed into a game with such

high stakes.

“It was a must-win situation.

Everybody knew it. We talked about it openly,” he said. “Obviously, tremendous respect for [our players] … we knew we had to play A-plus football, and we did.”

The Big Green wasted no time getting started. After forcing a Princeton punt on the first drive of the contest, Dartmouth put on an 8-play, 75-yard drive ending in a 37-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Paxton Scott ’24, who managed to stay in bounds as he dove through two defenders to break the plane of the end zone. The touchdown marked Scott’s fourth score of the season.

“I didn’t even know he had to jump in the end zone like that until I watched the replay,” quarterback Derek Kyler ’21 said. “So I was watching the scoreboard and I was like, wow, that guy went and made a play for me. So that was sweet.”

The Big Green defense then pushed the Tigers back 13 yards on their next possession, forcing another punt, which did not cross the midfield line. Dartmouth did not waste its advantageous field position, marching back down the field to Princeton’s red zone where Kyler found wide receiver Dale Chesson ’23 in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown, Chesson’s first

of the season since returning from injury last game.

Chesson ended the day with five receptions for 61 yards and the score, making him the Big Green’s leading receiver. This performance followed a strong season opener for Chesson at Harvard, where he amassed 72 yards, again on five receptions.

Chesson’s teammates and coach sang his praises following the game, clearly overjoyed to have him back on the field and in the locker room. “[Chesson] is an explosive man,” Kyler said. “He brings such a great energy and he’s just so happy all the time … [Chesson] is a phenomenal athlete and I think everyone’s been able to see that, the two games he’s been back.”

Princeton picked up its second first down of the game before the end of the first quarter, but soon after play resumed the Big Green defense forced yet another punt.

The Tigers showed some life on defense on the ensuing drive, nearly forcing a three and out at the onset and soon after coming close to forcing a turnover in the red zone.

Dartmouth was able to maintain possession though, and the drive ended with a 33-yard field goal from kicker Connor Davis ’22, giving Dartmouth a 17-0 lead with nine minutes left to play in the half.

Princeton was able to answer with

CAROLINE KRAMER /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Dartmouth never trailed during Friday night’s 31-7 home win over No. 16 Princeton University.

a touchdown of its own, but it would prove to be the Tigers’ only points of the game. Facing a chance to cut the Dartmouth lead to 7 points at the end of the half, Princeton kicker Jeffrey Sexton doinked his 27-yard attempt off of the right upright and the Big Green maintained its 17-7 lead headed into halftime.

The second half was defined by Dartmouth’s strong defensive play.

After not giving up a score throughout the half, the Big Green had held a Princeton offense averaging 37 points per game entering play to just seven total. Dartmouth was able to consistently apply pressure to the Princeton offense, forcing some bad throws and piling up six sacks as a team.

“On film, they showed a lot,” defensive lineman Shane Cokes ’23 said. “It seemed like being physical with them, especially with the bull rush, worked a lot, so throughout the week, we just focused on that.”

Cokes personally picked up two and a half sacks against the Tigers.

The offense was able to extend the lead to 24-7 in the third quarter courtesy of a 20-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Jonny Barrett ’23, but it was the defense that put the game away for good.

On the very next drive, with fewer than 10 seconds remaining in the third quarter and Princeton on Dartmouth’s side of the field, an illadvised pass found the waiting hands of cornerback Isaiah Johnson ’22, who took it 73 yards to the house for a score.

“Every week, [Teevens] says the same thing: know your opponents better than they know themselves.”

Johnson said. “Going into the film, I told [associate head coach Sammy McCorkle] that anytime I see a receiver two yards outside the hash, they were running the hitch. So they came out for the play, I saw the receiver go two yards outside the hash, and I guessed hitch, and I was right.”

Johnson’s big play was the backbreaker for Princeton. The Tigers were able to put on one more long drive, nearly punching it into the end zone, but turned the ball over on downs. Princeton never threatened to score again.

Dartmouth now faces the task of avoiding a letdown in the final two games of its title defense. The Big Green will next take the field on Saturday at home against Cornell

University, whose record stands at 2-6 overall and 1-4 in Ivy play. Two years ago, Cornell upset Dartmouth in a game that the Big Green could have clinched a share of the Ivy League title with a win.

“The loss we had against Cornell, ... nobody forgot about that,” Kyler said. “I don’t see us taking our foot off the gas.”

PAGE 6

MIRROR

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

THE DARTMOUTH MIRROR

Q&A with Famed Courtyard Cafe Worker Souleymane STORY

By Connor Allen

This article was originally published on November 10, 2021.

The return to pseudo-normalcy has been accompanied by campus facilities becoming over-crowded and under-staffed. Despite these challenges, students can look forward to reuniting with their favorite staff members, like Souleymane Marzouk — the beloved Courtyard Cafe worker who has gained campus fame for his bubbly personality.

I’ve seen you many times, at the Hop — it’s my favorite place to eat. So, my first question is: When and how did you first come to Dartmouth?

SM: Well, originally I am from Mali. I was adopted, and my adopted mom is from Vermont — right here in Hartford — so I went to Hartford Middle School and High School. I started working at Dartmouth during my senior year of high school part-time, then I went to college myself.

So you’ve really grown up with Dartmouth?

SM: I did during my high school years, because I didn’t have reason to be on campus until I started looking for a job. My neighbor, who was one of the managers at DDS, hired me at the Hopkins Center, and from there, here I am.

What were your first impressions, ideas and opinions about Dartmouth?

SM: Well you have that whole Ivy League thing, which I really didn’t understand that much — I was not only learning English at the time, but also learning the ways that people live here. I came to the country late in 1990 and then I didn’t move to Hartford until 1993, so I was still learning. So for me, by working at a college, I learned what “Ivy League” means and what are the standards and such, and that’s important to me now.

Since your time here, how has Dartmouth changed in your perceptions?

SM: It’s changed a lot. Our guests are very welcoming — when I say guests, I mean the students. College is supposed to be fun, and our management tries to create a community for us as employers so that we can be a part of the Dartmouth experience, which makes a lot of sense to me. I think once I get to know some of the students and find out what they’re comfortable with over time, without asking directly, I become comfortable to say to myself “It’s okay to call this person by his or her name, versus sir or ma’am.”

That’s one of the reasons I like being at the Hop versus Class of 1953 Commons, because there’s a lot more interaction here versus there, in my opinion. The equipment that we use at the register takes 5-10 seconds for me to interact with somebody while I’m doing that, versus just “zoom” *Souleymane handed the reporter an imaginary plate.* I would definitely say that 5-10 seconds makes a difference.

SM: Thank you.

CONNOR ALLEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Have you worked at Foco before?

SM: Yes, many times, on a temporary basis. The Hop is closed for some of the year, so some of us go to ’53 in the summertime to pick up some hours.

And then recently, with Covid, this place was shut down completely, so all of us were there, so I’m familiar with how they operate.

her know how well they’re doing. Or what you’re doing right now, putting my voice out there. I think that it’s part of it. You’re right, it’s been hard for everybody, but then the community comes together — without you guys, we wouldn’t be here. So, just thanking somebody who is doing something different or something that’s unique to you, I think that’s a good start, it all starts with one person.

Covid has been very hard across the entire country, and it’s been difficult for DDS too — there are lots of lines, lots of waiting.

It’s no one’s fault other than a global pandemic’s, but I wanted to thank you — I think on behalf of everyone — for making our experience with DDS way better.

What can we as students do to reciprocate that spirit?

SM: Well you just did. Sometimes just say thank you to somebody, let him or

Are there any specific things that would really help with line management that students can do?

SM: Sometimes, no matter what you do, we cannot make the lines faster. Because of COVID-19, we’ve lost workers — we just don’t have them. Our grill line is supposed to have a minimum of 3 people, and our salad bar is supposed to have a minimum of 2 people. Now, if people order a burger, it may take 2-3 minutes for that burger to be cooked, so

no matter how fast the cooks are going, that burger is not moving fast enough.

I think putting in a GET mobile order online is helpful, but mostly if you come here as a guest, I’d be aware that the lines are long — but not because we aren’t doing our jobs. There’s a lot of people here, and only one grill line. They’ve just got to be patient with us, and we’ve got to be patient with our guests.

It’s good to know we have to work together. I think for a lot of students, it’s very easy to get annoyed and blame other people.

SM: It truly is, especially when you’ve got a time limit and class to go to, so I totally understand that. So, unless you order pre-made items — like specials — anything else will take time. And then, at the register, we’re supposed to have two people there, but again, we’re just short staffed.

In your years here, when did you

start to be aware that you had a campus presence?

SM: Right now, at the Hop we just take your IDs to scan. Before, with the machines we had, we had to enter Stock Keeping Unit numbers. So, that took longer to enter. Now, taking your ID, I get to see your name and such, so I started learning some names — once I felt they were okay with that. Then, some guests came up to me to say thank you and that they appreciated what I do.

What’s your favorite food at Courtyard Cafe?

SM: My favorite food here is a steak queso on wheat — I don’t know why exactly, but I usually like a steak queso with spinach on wheat, although I don’t get it as often, since I try to be good.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

An Ode to Librex: the App you Love to Hate to Love STORY

By Connor Allen

This article was originally published on November 10, 2021.

Every day on Librex is a new day: a few Tuesdays ago, the only topic of discussion was — as you might guess — it being Tuesday. We’ve now moved into 403 discourse, where all Librex users and abusers have (rather mystifyingly) given their thoughts on people who live in rooms with the number 403. Gone are the constant rush posts of yester-week, nostalgic artifacts of a bygone era; here to stay are self-therapy posts and 4 a.m.

M4F’s (for non-users, this implies that the male poster (M) is looking ‘4’ a female).

I should back up: Librex is Dartmouth’s anonymous messaging board, akin to YikYak, but also linked to the rest of the Ivy League.

Essentially, Librex is the combination of anonymity with high achievement, ambition and undoubtedly, highintellect discussion — except no, not really. Librex is Dartmouth’s collective id, a relentlessly addictive hive mind representing everything

about Dartmouth that is not seen but thought. It is inane, hard to describe and glorious.

Librex is an app that perplexes you before it grows on you. I wouldn’t go so far as to describe it as Dadaist art, but it retains those same core elements of randomness, meaninglessness and somehow ... meaning? I think appreciating Librex requires some sort of roadmap: first and foremost, it must be remembered that nothing really means anything on the app. It often serves the purpose solely of self-amusement; “hey, let’s see who can get the most upvotes!” Or even better, “how about downvotes?” My submission to that contest won handily: “Let’s make this the most upvoted post on Librex!” Surely enough, betting on Librex’s endlessly contrarian spirit, it received hundreds of downvotes over the next hour. I won, I guess?

The point is, Librex is an unwieldy beast, always willing to make fun, downvote, belittle and confuse.

Similarly, the rumor mill must be disregarded almost entirely. It is

incredibly easy to lie when it has no effect on your credibility — and in this way, Librex should not be considered a particularly reliable source. I think there is beauty in Librex’s chaos, so long as it is recognized for what it is: a cesspool with no redeeming value other than some level of cynical selfamusement.

I do think Librex responds well to tone. In fact, there exists a sort of collective vocabulary and voice that suggests Librex might be dominated by one person with too much time on their hands. This tone, characterized by absurdity, nihilism and odd non-sequiturs, dominates 80% of the posts, and is responsible for the jumble of ideas, thoughts, resentments and accusations of impersonating another person (known as psy-ops) that make up the heart and soul of the Librex community.

Still, serious posts generate marginally more serious responses — and all-too-often calls for help are met with authentic concern.

It becomes clear that Librex is a

ELIZABETH JANOWSKI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

sort of act we all buy into, wherein generally less-acceptable-in-public behavior is tolerated up until real people illustrate real concerns.

Similarly, Librex responds swiftly to racist, misogynistic, sexual violencerelated or otherwise unacceptable c o m m e n t s — a s i m m e d i at e, numerous downvotes very clearly illustrate that the spirit of callousness on the app is all well and good until obvious lines are crossed. In this way, despite existing as a means of venting, disrupting and reflecting with no repercussions, Librex is — against all odds — a welcoming place, where anyone can be mean to anyone. Like some jarring piece of avant-garde art, Librex takes time and effort to appreciate. Maybe that’s giving it more nobility than it deserves; or maybe not enough.

Equally important is the Ivy League side of the app. For those not as hopelessly addicted, Librex is divided into two sections. One is composed solely of anonymous Dartmouth students, while the other is open to any user in the Ivy League — what could possibly go wrong?

As you might expect, far too many discussions focus on the relative rankings between the colleges. This perhaps epitomizes what Librex does for us all: It allows us to indulge in discussions and arguments we’d ordinarily know better to ignore — but with anonymity, anyone with thumbs can make fun of Cornell without consequence. The app is objectively toxic, but it only infects to the extent that you let it — and at best, such discussions are non-productive and harmless. I think Ivy League students are all intelligent enough to recognize this, and Librex might simply allow us to just say dumb things for a change.

My absolute favorite genre of posts are the ‘M4F’ types of romantic calls that appear in the Ivy League side of the app. Several logistical concerns are thus presented: First, none of the schools are near one another.

What advantage would therefore be gained by begging for a link-up in

the Ivy League channel rather than the single-college channel? Second, what happens when someone (the mythical F 4 whom the M searches) actually matches with the poster? A quick trip to Ithaca? I’d love to see some statistics on these types of posts to piece together the larger narrative and calculate a success rate.

There is also the looming threat of merging with our rival: Calibrex, the exact same thing but with elite West Coast schools. Personally, Librex is already a wonderful mess — and I can’t see anything going much worse by including a certain Palo Alto University and a few others.

Yes, Librex is a wasteland of halfbaked jokes and random cynicism, but as it stands, I revel in its chaos.

At the end of the day, it is fully a community — for better or worse, and I think that gives it some level of merit. So long as the moderators keep doing their job in giving zero tolerance to legitimate hate of any kind, may Librex live on.

I yesterday posted a request for a moderator to briefly explain to me the guidelines and standards for Librex for the purposes of this article (i.e. what crosses the line).

What I received, however, was the most Librex-y possible reply from a non-moderator: “anarchy, f**k you.”

I should have expected nothing less — and as an admission of my own naivety, upvoted it.

Of course, I’m a ’25, and the app will likely get old very quickly (as I’m sure it has for many upperclassmen).

But as of right now, when consumed in moderation, my experience has been largely positive — of course, I can’t vouch for everyone and it is clear that the app could lead to real harm. I’d welcome a follow-up explaining how my own detached amusement regarding the app might not be possible for everyone, especially those who’ve felt more personally victimized by certain discussions. I’m almost certain this article will find its way to the app, for all roads lead to Librex — in that case, please give me an upvote.