The Dartmouth 04/03/2019

MIRROR 4.03.19

WAIT, I HAVE AN ACCENT? 3

GROWING UP IN HANOVER 4

SUGAR CREW&A 6

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Editors’ Note

Bridges: Title IX Engages Faculty STORY

DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Dartmouth bubble is a universally acknowledged reality on this campus.

Living in rural New Hampshire while also attending a school that takes up so much of our free time with academics and extracurriculars severely inhibits our access to news about the outside world and, perhaps more importantly, our willingness to care about that news. And at a school where so many students come from the highest socioeconomic strata, the most concerning part of this reality is that most of us have lived in a bubble for the span of our entire lives.

Dartmouth is a bubble, but the Upper Valley itself is not. Where students have gone looking for it, they have found opportunities to affect change in a community that is diverse in ways that Dartmouth is not, and lacking in so many of the resources that many Dartmouth students have in plenty. And more and more, it is imperative that students do go looking for change, because as we have seen over the past year through lawsuits and scandals alike, the outside world will bring changes to this campus whether we like it or not.

This week, the Mirror pops the Dartmouth bubble, and we hope that in reading this issue, you will be inspired to do so as well. We hope that you will reevaluate your own privilege in being a student here and rethink the ways you can make an impact on the world outside of our tiny campus.

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4.03.19 VOL. CLXXV NO. 8 MIRROR EDITORS NIKHITA HINGORANI KYLEE SIBILIA ASSOCIATE MIRROR SARAH ALPERT EDITORS NOVI ZHUKOVSKY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DEBORA HYEMIN HAN PUBLISHER AIDAN SHEINBERG EXECUTIVE EDITOR ELIZA JANE SCHAEFFER

By Yuna Kim

In the aftermath of Dartmouth’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (PBS) lawsuit scandal, students have expressed both anger and disappointment regarding the administration’s handling of this case.

Others have expressed confusion as to what the administration is actually doing to address sexual misconduct on campus. Despite being on campus throughout the national press coverage of the sexual misconduct allegations, Blake McGill ’22 felt disconnected from the situation.

“When [the lawsuit] happened, there was obviously outcry, but I feel like I heard more about it from people off-campus than I did from people on campus,” McGill said. “I’m really surprised that there wasn’t more campus-wide conversation about what had happened.”

According to Kristi Clemens, the Dartmouth Title IX coordinator, one of her office’s priorities is facilitating healthy and informed interactions between the Title IX office and the Dartmouth student body. She acknowledged the current disconnect and lack of knowledge about the Title IX office by the general student population. Clemens attributes this partly to the newness of the Title IX office itself, which was only established in 2014.

“I’ve only been in the role of Title IX coordinator since last April, and our office has grown tremendously in the past year,” Clemens said. “One of my first priorities was to take this office from a one-person shop to a multifaceted team and really seek the resources that this office needs to be successful.”

According to Clemens, following the PBS investigation, the Title IX office, as well as other Dartmouth authorities, came to the realization that while policies for addressing sexual misconduct by students were clear, those that involved faculty and staff were not.

As part of the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative launched by College President Phil Hanlon earlier this year, these very policies are currently in the process of being more clearly rewritten and reestablished.

“After this office was established

and we encountered increasing reports of sexual misconduct, one thing we realized immediately was that our procedures regarding faculty and staff were not nearly as clear-cut as the one we had made for students,” Clemens said.

The Title IX office launched “Bridges” this January. Bridges is a mandatory Title IX sexual violence prevention course for all Dartmouth faculty, staff and post-doctoral scholars.

Clemens revealed that the Bridges programming had been in the works under the Title IX office for quite a time now, but there had been administrative transitions that delayed the program’s launch.

“We’ve had Bridges ready to go almost two years now, waiting in the wings,” Clemens said. “But there’s been a lot of administrative change both in this office and in the Provost’s office, so I think as the topic of Bridges has come up, there was always some transition in the way of making this happen.”

Clemens shared that the PBS lawsuit was the platform Bridges needed to incentivize Dartmouth faculty and staff to take sexual violence prevention more seriously.

“In a way, the lawsuit allowed us to rip off the band-aid regarding Bridges and really emphasize to campus that this program is incredibly important, as it clearly impacts our lives and our students’ lives, and we need to be fully committed to improving our campus environment,” Clemens said.

The original deadline for completion of the program was March 13. However, as of March 29, 2019, 89 percent of Dartmouth faculty and staff have completed Bridges.

Women’s gender and sexuality studies professor Giavanna Munafo, who completed the Bridges training herself, advocated that the Bridges program should be utilized as a constant resource — rather than simply a onetime procedure — available for faculty and staff to reference at any time.

“Bridges provides a lot of important information about how to respond [to disclosure of sexual misconduct] and what our resources as professors are that is not elsewhere available in one

place,” Munafo said. “For example, there’s one scenario in the program in particular in which a faculty member closes his office door because a student is about to disclose information, and we learn that this needs to be changed so that he asks the student if closing the door is okay or not.”

Clemens emphasized that Bridges is only the first step in doing what is necessary to inspire a campus-wide cultural shift.

“Bridges is by no means the one silver bullet that will change everything or immediately fix problems in our campus climate,” Clemens said. “It’s not going to stop sexual violence from happening on our campus because no one thing can ever do that. Bridges is instead about starting to offer a comprehensive array of options that provide different ways for people to hook into the broader initiative that we all need to work on together.”

Ana Sumbo ’22 shared her hopes for Bridges to have a positive impact on campus.

“If the College doesn’t confront this issue head-on, then there’s a lot of room for individual interpretation of difficult situations,” Sumbo said. “So I think that spelling out exactly what’s expected of everyone on our campus will be incredibly helpful.”

Although McGill also believes that Bridges could be beneficial for the Dartmouth community, she thinks that more should be done to address sexual misconduct and sexual violence across the country.

“I think Bridges is definitely a step in the right direction, but I also think that the issue of sexual assault is a larger conversation that has to do with gross disrespect for women and their bodies,” McGill said. “So while I do think Bridges will encourage professors to be more conscious of their actions, if we’re ever going to actually stop sexual violence, we have to address the issue at its root and start respecting people, male, female, non-binary, everybody.

Sexual misconduct is something no longer acceptable to sweep under the rug, no matter how sensitive of an issue it might be.”

McGill is a member of The Dartmouth staff.

MIRR OR //3

Wait, I Have an Accent? Exploring Dialects at Dartmouth STORY

By Maggie Doyle

“Where are you from?”

“Chicago.”

“Oh my gosh ChicAAHgo hahaha.”

This strange phenomenon started on First-Year Trips. Every time I said the word “Chicago” people would, in unison, respond “ChicAAHgo,” exaggerating the harsh vowel sounds associated with the pronunciation of my hometown.

Laura McPherson, an assistant professor of linguistics at Dartmouth, delved into the underlying causes of this phenomenon.

“In a stereotypical Chicago accent, the vowels are different,” she said. “Your vowels have undergone what’s called the Northern City Shift. This means that your ‘a’ vowel has pushed forward in your inventory.”

I’d heard of a Chicago accent before, but until I came to Dartmouth, I couldn’t identify it, much less believe I had it. However, this Trips phenomenon continued through my freshman fall, with people commenting on the Chicago accent I didn’t know I had. Slowly, I started to hear subtle differences in the way I pronounced things versus the way my Northeastern or Californian friends do. Despite having left the Midwest many times, I’d never noticed my harsh vowel sounds or regional linguistic idiosyncrasies.

According to McPherson, most of understanding accents comes down to phonology.

“There is a grammar for sounds that’s known as phonology,” she explained.

“That basically tells you what your sounds are going to sound like in the language where they can occur ... We have a sound ‘t’ in English, but the ‘t’ in a word ‘tap’ sounds different than the ‘t’ in ‘butter.’”

Hailey Fox ’22 is from Nashville, TN, and she also didn’t think she had an accent until coming to Dartmouth.

“I don’t really have an accent –– at least at home, compared to other people I don’t –– but when I came here, everyone noticed it a lot,” she said, adding that this was especially surprising to her because she was always able to notice her friends’ stronger Southern accents.

However, Fox has noticed some subtle ways in which her own pronunciations

differ from those of her friends.

“I feel like ‘eggs’ is pronounced differently,” she noted, “And other words with ‘e’ sometimes.”

Despite being from New York, Cecily Craighead ’22 speaks with a soft British accent.

“My parents are American,” she said, “and so I was born in New York City, but I moved to London when I was like two months old. I went to an English school system, so my accent is sort of a combination of my environment, and sort of growing up in an English school system and [being] surrounded by people with strong English accents, and my parents who were entirely American.”

Even growing up in London, Craighead initially had a slight American accent, but it began to shift after she started spending more time with teachers and friends from the United Kingdom.

McPherson said this isn’t unusual, since young people are most influenced by their peers.

“There’s this critical period for language acquisition,” McPherson said.

“Around the age 11, that’s when your language learning faculty starts to turn off … by the time you get to college, you can learn other language, but you’re never going to reach native fluency.”

Craighead left the United Kingdom and moved back to the United States when she was 14 years old.

“I lost a lot of my English accent then –– particularly vocabulary because people will pay a lot of attention, or like to make fun of little words,” she said.

However, her accent’s slight softening was miniscule compared to the change that occurred in her younger sister’s speech. Her sister was at the crucial age-11 threshold when they moved back.

“My sister was three years younger, and hers is totally gone, while mine stayed,” Craighead said. “She only really uses some vocabulary, and it comes out when she’s nervous, but she tried really hard to lose hers, because she was 11 years old, in middle school, really wanting to fit in and all that.”

When I went home over break, I finally understood what people meant when they referred to a Chicago accent.

It sounded familiar, but I was surprised

at myself for never noticing it. Weirder still, I also noticed a difference in my own voice. I remember saying “very” and then faltering, hearing how soft the vowel sound was, and realizing my voice was not my own — the pronunciation I’d just used was far more Northeastern than Chicago. The accent I didn’t know I’d had faded after only a term inside of the Dartmouth bubble. I certainly hadn’t meant to alter my voice and am almost sentimental about losing it.

According to McPherson, my case is not surprising.

“You’ll probably see that in the student body here. Some people are going to meld more, lose more of their

regional accents,” McPherson said. “It’s not totally understood why there are those differences. I’ve heard suggestions it may have to do with social cohesion, social intelligence, but I think all that is pretty contentious.”

For the same reason, your friend who came back from a study abroad with a slight accent may or may not be faking it.

“Let’s say you go on a study abroad; are you going to come back with an accent? Some people yes, some people no. There’s kind of a push and pull when it comes to absorbing accents that aren’t your own,” McPherson said.

McPherson added that accents are

entirely relative, and what is considered “standard” is based on a broader set of criteria, often related to factors such as power structure and education. She elaborated on this phenomenon in the context of the United States, saying that as a seat of power and prestige, New England has generally set the standard of language, and people outside the region are often considered to have accents.

With this notion of bias in mind, perhaps students should rethink the way they communicate with those whose identities and experiences diverge from their own and inject some empathy into their own linguistic experience within the Dartmouth bubble.

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From Hanover High to Dartmouth College STORY

By Christina Baris

The summer after my senior year of high school was one of the most confusing periods of time in my life. A spirit of change lingered in the air: The calm before the storm.

Mundane activities, like grabbing coffee with friends in town, suddenly increased in significance. As friends left home for colleges across the country, the strange thought that nothing would ever be the same replayed in my mind. Perhaps I was being a bit melodramatic, but nonetheless, the nervousness and excitement associated with leaving for college were palpable.

Having lived in a small suburb of

New York my whole life, I was eager to experience life somewhere else; I craved newness. Nearly all of my friends from home were born and raised in New York. At Dartmouth, students come from homes across the world. However, for a couple of incoming freshmen each year, home could be less than a 10-minute walk from campus. Dartmouth students who come from Hanover High School have a slightly atypical start to college, as it is not accompanied with an actual change in geographic location.

Moreover, Hanover, with a population of around 11,500,

is not exactly a metropolis. The nearest major city, Boston, is over two hours away. This geographic isolation leads to the phenomenon aptly referred to as the “Dartmouth bubble.” Dartmouth students can, at times, feel unconnected to the outside world, because our lives seem to revolve around our time on campus. Personally, I’ve gone weeks without having an in-person conversation with somebody who isn’t a Dartmouth student or faculty member. For Hanover natives, the proximity of home to college comes with advantages and disadvantages, all of which influence their

Dartmouth experience.

Due to the closeness of the Hanover community, many Dartmouth students from Hanover had the opportunity to take classes at Dartmouth prior to becoming a student. According to Hana Dai ’20, who has lived in Hanover for over 19 years, around 10 to 15 percent of Hanover High students take at least one Dartmouth class, which familiarizes them with the fast pace of Dartmouth courses while also providing them with a first impression of Dartmouth students.

Ethan Adner ’22, who attended both middle and high school in Hanover, took PSYC 06, “Introduction to Neuroscience” during the winter of his senior year of high school. This course led Adner to an increased interest in neuroscience and showed him that many Dartmouth students have passions in STEM fields.

Dai also took a Dartmouth course during her senior year of high school. Although Dai was nervous to start her first college class, her preconceived belief that “a professor would be scary and not willing to talk to students” was changed after she took her first class at Dartmouth.

She realized that both students and professors are very approachable.

Another student who has a lot of experience taking Dartmouth classes as a high school student is Busara Hall, a senior at Hartford High School in White River Junction, Vermont. Hall started taking classes at Dartmouth during his junior year of high school and had first impressions of the students in his classes that differed from his expectations.

“I thought everyone here was a genius who only studied and partied, but everyone was normal,” Hall said.

“They just work hard, love what they do [and are] passionate about building a really strong community.”

Hall also experienced the fastpaced nature of Dartmouth courses, noting that the 10-week terms are “condensed” and “keep you on your toes.” Hall agreed with the analogy his father, a ’91, told him: “Imagine

trying to fill a drinking glass with a water hose.”

It is obvious that Dartmouth is closely tied to the Hanover community, and it is not uncommon to see Hanover natives walking around campus and taking advantage of the resources. Joe Zhang ’21 has fond memories of his time growing up here.

“For Hanover as a community, Dartmouth has a pretty big impact,” Zhang said. “When I was little, I used to go to the bonfire and the Christmas tree lighting on the Green every year.”

Hanover High and Dartmouth students also share certain hangout spaces. For example, it is common for Hanover High students to study in Baker-Berry Library and eat at Boloco or Ramunto’s. However, not all of what Hanover and the Upper Valley have to offer is known to Dartmouth students.

“Slowly, Dartmouth students are starting to find the local spots, but there are still hidden gems that people don’t really go out of their way to find,” Dai said.

Despite the geographic similarities, Hanover High and Dartmouth College are two entirely different experiences. Dartmouth’s geographic isolation has influenced some of the College’s quirks and traditions. However, as Adner said, “College is more than just the location.” Hanover High students may know their way around campus better than most, but their transition to college is not necessarily any easier.

“It’s a totally different community than that of the town,” said Zhang. “I was pretty similar to other students. I didn’t know what to expect.”

We all come from different backgrounds, so no two Dartmouth experiences are the same — even those of students coming from the same high school in a very small town. The stories of Hanovernatives-turned-Dartmouth-students demonstrate that you don’t always have to travel far to gain new perspectives — sometimes, adventure awaits just outside your front door.

Buy a Book, Help a Student STORY

MIRR OR //5

By Josephine Kim

What are the “keys to life”? If you are a fan of Will Smith, you may have come across his inspirational 2005 Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards speech in the past. He shared with his young audience, “The keys to life are running and reading.” Why? If you want to hear his insightful (and comedic) explanation, look it up.

If you want to follow up on his advice, go to the Five Colleges Book Sale at Lebanon High School the weekend of April 21. This sale is now located just beyond the scope of the Dartmouth bubble, but its first sale actually took place in our very own Collis Center. There are usually 35 to 40 thousand books for sale in all fields.

Founded in 1962, this annual spring event is a flower in our local community. As one of the largest sales of old books in New England, it attracts bibliophiles from all over,

even those out-of-state. Best of It’s just a great opportunity to see all, sale profits go towards funding what there is.”

For some supporters, this book scholarships for Vermont and New Hampshire students at five colleges, sale is a way to get more books Mount Holyoke, Simmons, Smith, into the community and create the means for people to donate books, Wellesley and Vassar. but especially to Sarah Biggs, provide books for one of the cothose who love to organizers of "It's almost like it read. For others, the event, first knows how to run is also a way to got involved itself because so many itraise scholarship several years funds. And it even ago when a [volunteers] have been serves as a sort of friend of hers involved for so long." reunion amongst invited her to both good sort books one Saturday as a -SARAH BIGGS, ORGANIZER a c q u a i n t a n c e s and long-lasting volunteer. friends.

“I have As for the flow been hooked and atmosphere eve r s i n c e, ” o f t h i s eve n t , she said. “You Biggs said that k n o w, b o o k lovers ... love to see what’s out the book sale “takes a life of its there, what are the trends in reading. own.” “It’s almost like it knows how to run itself because so many [volunteers] have been involved for so long ... there is a magical quality to it,” she said.

However magical, the local community and dedicated volunteers had to fight through some trying years for the book to exist. Nancy Dean, one of the founding members of the book sale, shares that one year, she single-handedly earned $5,000 of scholarship money on her alma mater’s assigned volunteer day because of slim participation. At 91-years-old now, Dean is still working at the book sale, overseeing and filling in any gaps.

“It has been fun,” she said. “I would miss it if I didn’t do it.”

Karen Wolfe, a Wellesley alumna and a past co-chair of the book sale, says that around the 50th anniversary of the book sale they had to put a notice in the Valley News explaining that due to a need for volunteers, that year may be the last book sale. In response, she described a huge outcry from the community. “[People responded,] ‘What!

NOVI ZHUKOVSKY/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF This book sale cannot go away.’

And we got a whole bunch of acquaintances, if not long-lasting volunteers ... We dispelled the myth friendships by working on the sale that you had to year after year, be a graduate of and being a part one of the ‘five "I think we've picked of its history.” colleges’ to work up strength again, and So, fellow at the sale,” said Dartmouth we're on an upswing." s t u d e n t s, w hy Wolfe.

Dean also don’t we holler s h a r e d h e r -NANCY DEAN, in the Spring by optimism about freshening up our the future of the FOUNDING MEMBER weekly routine? book sale.

Let’s show some “I think love to our local we’ve picked up community by strength again, checking out this and we’re on an magical and wellu p s w i n g, ” s h e oiled 58-year-old said. “pop-up” book When I asked Dean what makes sale. The “keys to life” are there, in this book sale so special, she mint condition, at excellent prices responded, “It’s fun seeing people and all for a furthering the higher bursting through the doors [on] education dreams of students like day of the sale. One builds good ourselves.

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Sugar Crew&A: The Culture of Being Sweeter STORY

By Katie Cline

Everyone loves maple syrup, right?

That delicious, teeth-rotting liquid amber you can use to drench pancakes, waffles and (controversially) bacon in an attempt to make your heart stop faster? New Hampshire –– and more famously, Vermont –– is known for the production of maple syrup. Starch stored in sugar maple trees during winter months is converted back into liquid sugar as spring approaches.

Ground water plus sugar equals sap, which is then “tapped” by inserting a spigot into the trunk of the tree and drained into buckets. Clear sap is then boiled at extremely high temperatures, giving the final product its signature

color and viscosity. The process of production itself seems pretty simple.

I wouldn’t quote me on that, though, because I’ve never done it. But a select few at Dartmouth have.

Sugar Crew is a small contingent of students who embark on an experiential journey through the New Hampshire sugaring scene.

Nine to 12 students, including three student leaders, spend their spring break in Hanover tapping trees and boiling sap. While on campus during the term, they take educational field trips to learn about a part of our environment we rarely get to see.

However, the intensive sugaring

experience does not begin merely when winter term ends. The tireless crew works at the Dartmouth Organic Farm weeks in advance and continues even after students return for the spring. Preparation for sugaring takes about four hours during the last weeks leading up to spring break. A typical day in Sugar Crew over spring break begins with a meeting at the Sustainable Living Center, where the crew prepares a home-cooked meal before starting work for the day. The students then depart campus for the Organic Farm, where they spend hours sugaring before returning to Hanover, according to one of this

year’s captains, Michelle Wang ’21.

After returning as a Sugar Crew leader after freshman year, Wang emphasized the uniqueness of the sugaring experience.

“The goal is for students to engage with this area — New Hampshire, Vermont, the Upper Valley — and to engage with the culture of sugaring. And also to learn a little bit about different perspectives and sustainability through the lens of sugaring in this area,” Wang said. “We make maple syrup, [but the goal is] to get people thinking and working and getting outside.”

Wang, who is from California, explained that spring break this year was too short for her to make a trip home, which made sugaring an appealing alternative. Katie Shi ’21, from Texas, echoed this sentiment.

“I didn’t really want to fly back,” said Shi, who was new to Sugar Crew this year. “I was looking for fun things to do over break.”

Logistics are not the only reason people join Sugar Crew. Sugaring attracts “the most random people from the weirdest corners of campus,” according to Wang. She said that this year, Sugar Crew had two students from the fencing team, as well as a public policy minor –– people who aren’t usually involved in sustainability.

“People come from all over, united by a cool program that lets you stay here for a week and gives you something to do over interim,” Wang said.

Part of the experience of Sugar Crew involves visiting “sugar bushes” (groupings of maple trees), industrial maple farms, maple research centers and the homes of sustainability activists.

“We do all of these field trips in an attempt to understand this place and its people, which we don’t get to do during the school year because you’re very much in your bubble,” Wang said.

Physical ability is not a barrier for those interested in taking part in the production of maple syrup. Shi notes that this year’s Sugar Crew was not dominated by people from

the Northeast, and that no one — barring the captains — had any prior experience. Students are not expected to have prior experiences or any physical ability besides being able to walk from tree to tree.

“Sugar Crew has been a really awesome organic experience,” Shi said. “You really leave behind any affiliations or conceptions and get to know people.”

Lizzie Thoni ’21 also said that her first foray into sugaring this past break gave her greater insight into life outside of campus. Seeking a unique spring break experience, Thoni didn’t have any prior sugaring knowledge before joining Sugar Crew.

“I thought it was interesting to become immersed in [sugaring] culture, because everyone does it,” Thoni said. “Stepping outside of Dartmouth’s campus, you’ll see that every family has its own little mini sugaring operation. People are really psyched about their maple syrup.”

Thoni called her Sugar Crew experience “quirky” and “wholesome” and said it altered the way she sees life at school.

“At Dartmouth there are different circles of people. They’re big circles, but you only interact with those same people that you see at certain social spaces,” she said. “[With] Sugar Crew, I had the chance to interact with a whole other side of Dartmouth that I wouldn’t have before.”

Where does all of this hard work end up? The answer: bottled and sold.

You can actually buy Sugar Crew’s maple syrup. Though they don’t produce on a commercial scale, they do sell small amounts at sustainability events, so keep an eye out. But wherever the maple syrup ends up, the true products of Sugar Crew are the relationships people forge: with each other, with the environment and with Dartmouth’s surrounding community.

It’s hard to leave the Dartmouth bubble. We get stuck in our very comfortable schedules and tend to like it that way. Maybe sugaring is the incentive we need to break our routine and be a little sweeter to each other, both off and on campus.

Helping Hands: Engineering a Better Cot for the Haven

MIRR OR //7

STORY

By Claire Callahan

Being at Dartmouth can be all- had to step it up in terms of being a consuming, as we worry about our resource for people who were really own responsiblities and futures. struggling just to get by,” she said.

Even walking into Hanover doesn’t “When I got to the Haven there really bring a lot of variety; it’s a was a family shelter and a plan to small, wealthy town with many of build a shelter for adults without its buildings owned by Dartmouth. children, and the capacity there But looking at the Upper Valley in its was for 21 people, so we had that entirety pops our bubble and forces on board by 2010, but by 2014 it us to examine the community we’re wasn’t enough. That was the winter i n . Fa m i l i e s that we started to right around us run an overflow struggle every “It welcomes all who seasonal shelter.” d ay, a n d t h e come through its The employees Upper Valley o f th e H aven doors, it treats people c o m b i n e d t h e Haven has made it its mission to with dignity and seasonal shelter help. respect, it’s frugal with with the waiting “It is a place area and café. where t h e its money and it works The seasonal m i s s i o n a n d in concert with the shelter, which is the values have open for the entire community.” been the same w i n t e r, m u s t almost word be constructed for word since -SARA KOBYLENSKI eve r y eve n i n g its beginning and taken down in 1980,” said every morning.

Sara Kobylenski, the now-retired “This equipment experiences a former director of the Haven. “It great deal of handling,” Kobylenski welcomes all who come through its said. “Any time you handle things doors, it treats people with dignity that much, they’re going to be and respect, it’s frugal with its money susceptible to damage.” and it works in concert with the Haven started out using old community.” cots from the Red Cross and has The Haven has worked with transitioned to camping cots. various groups of Dartmouth Jennifer Fontaine, the current students on different projects in the director of operations at the Haven, past, but Nat Healy ’20 discovered elaborated on the cots’ functionality. the Haven while searching for a “[The cots are] made to be used project during the winter of 2018 going on a weekend camping trip for ENGS 21, “Introduction to — they’re not made for five months Engineering.” He said he and straight of use every single night,” his team recognized the Haven’s Fontaine said. “The amount of potential to be a Dartmouth use that we give them is not what Humanitarian Engineering Project. they’re intended for. Pins come When the DHE team asked loose in them or crossbars need Kobylenski about problems faced by some supporting, they get wobbly. the Haven, she mentioned that the They fold up so all of those hinges cots in the seasonal shelter that they become weak points when you’re started in 2014 after the economic folding and unfolding every day.” recession had harmful effects on the The employees of the Haven community. wanted the DHE engineers to “The Upper Valley did better create a stackable cot that would than many parts of the country, be space-efficient and durable, but it still had a profound impact even with constant folding. Healy on people’s ability to make their said that the stackable cots take up basic needs, so the Haven really less room and require less effort to

arrange than the current cots. They are also less bulky and more stable, and thus more comfortable to sleep on.

“You have to be sure that you’re keeping everything clean,” Kobylenski said. “The nightmare of any shelter is insect infestations of any sort. The Haven has had a superior record of avoiding those things and we wanted to keep that.

Things with very tiny cracks, very tiny spaces like wood and cloth, those are vulnerabilities.”

Fontaine has been impressed with the zeal of the Dartmouth engineers.

“They’re all young and creative and into problem solving,” she said.

“Their first endeavor to help us with some of the issues was creating these clips that they 3D printed and some steel bars to help alleviate the swaying of the cot. That did significantly help the wobbliness and shifting of the cot, so that was great.”

Healy thought the design of the cot clips represent the way DHE works, with continuous testing and trial-and-error. Healy explained that the team began by borrowing a cot from the Haven and testing it to identify its weak points. After a “no-holds-barred” brainstorming session, the team created several designs and prototyped them.

The team then tested the designs by jumping on and off the cots and shaking them to see which prototypes were most stable.

The team also went through a review process to select the most durable and flexible material before delivering these prototypes to the Haven for testing and feedback.

This long and ever-changing p ro c e s s i s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f engineering. The students are constantly altering their designs and adapting to new problems, something that Kiera Jackson ‘22, the new co-leader of the project, mentioned.

“It’s tempting to continue to make prototype iterations and test them to work out every little kink

of the project, but if you actually This is the first local project DHE want your product or idea to go out has tackled during Healy’s time with into the real world and help people, the organization. as is our goal in DHE, you have “It’s easy for Dartmouth students to know when it’s good enough,” to stay within Hanover’s bubble of Jackson said. health and wealth without noticing Ko b y l e n s k i s e e s b r o a d e r the problems in our surrounding implications of this new cot than area,” he said. “I think that DHE’s solely improving the Haven’s continued work with organizations seasonal shelter. like the Upper Valley Haven “Our fantasy was that if they could not only make our members could come up with something that more accessible on the ground we could test at the Haven to see if experience, but also open their eyes it was good enough, sturdy enough, to how engineering can help the there could be a huge market for communities around them.” their product,” she said. “With all Jackson said that the humanitarian of the climate change and natural part of engineering is more than disasters, emergency shelters are just math and requires people with opening more than ever before, and different talents. this could be a product that could “We need people with strong meet the needs of that domain also. communication skills and who are It could have bigger application and good at interviews, so we can collect should be of interest to the inventing data and feedback,” Jackson said. world.”

“We need designers to make sure Healy hoped Kobylenski was the cot is aesthetically pleasing. right, but there are patenting We need someone who knows how difficulties specific to undergraduate to use a sewing machine ... and, of engineers. course, professional nappers to test “ M a ny p r e v i o u s ve n t u r e s the cot.” have been met with immediate Healy and Jackson hope to enthusiasm, but later fade and have created a solid cot for use by eventually disappear,” he said. the Haven by the end of spring “It is especially term. Fontaine difficult to is confident in “We believe that if m a i n t a i n t h e i r s u c c e s s. projects because we have a product “ I t h o ro u g h l y we are students that alleviates a predict them and thus only coming up with involved for a community’s problem, something that m a x i mu m o f it is our duty to make will work,” she four years.” said.

B u t H e a l y sure that product W h i l e was determined reaches as many Kobylenski has for this project communities in need retired (although, to be different. we can’t be sure; “ We h a v e as possible.” she has tried been in contact to retire twice with several before and found Tuck students -NAT HEALY ’20 herself working and professors to help people about the possibility of pursuing yet again), she wonders at the DHE projects,” he said. “We believe serendipity of this partnership. that if we have a product that “The fact that the students alleviates a community’s problem, it approached us, that they found is our duty to make sure that product that space to be connected to the reaches as many communities in community … I would call it the need as possible.” usual Haven magic,” she said.

8// MIRR OR

Upper Valley Outlooks PHOTO

By Michael Lin