MIRROR 10.16.19
FRESHMAN PLAGUE 4-5
DRINKING AT DARTMOUTH 6
VAPING HEALTH CRISIS 7 SOPHIE BAILEY/THE DARTMOUTH
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Editors’ Note
In Sickness and in Health DRAWING
DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The concepts of health and wellness have become buzz terms lately. From lifestyle blogs to mindfulness apps, it seems like everyone has something to say about improving our quality of life. Blogs like goop advocate practices based in pseudo-science, and Instagram influencers advertise “diet tea.” It is important to acknowledge that self-care is often a privileged activity, with many people lacking the time or resources to prioritize their health. However, our society’s recent focus on wellness has helped destigmatize mental health and shed light on the value of self-care. For this week’s Mirror issue, we delve into all things related to health. We look at the successes and pitfalls of the systems in place to support the mental health of Dartmouth students. We explore Dartmouth alcohol culture and the dangers of binge-drinking. We address the physical health of our students by debunking the elusive “freshman plague” and shedding light on the recent vaping health crisis. We also profile the anthropology department’s global health minor. Whether you’re an advocate of daily meditation, or you swear by the positive effects of Kombucha, we all have little things we do to improve our wellness. We hope that this week’s Mirror issue will open you up to subjects related to mental and physical health and remind you of the importance of looking after the wellbeing of your peers and yourself. Now go take that bubble bath.
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10.16.19 VOL. CLXXVI NO. 82 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DEBORA HYEMIN HAN PUBLISHER AIDAN SHEINBERG MIRROR EDITORS KYLEE SIBILIA NOVI ZHUKOVSKY ISSUE LAYOUT GRANT PINKSTON
By Clara Pakman
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Dartmouth Global Health Programs Extend Reach STORY
By Anne Johnakin
When you think of global health, you but recognize that to be a successful likely think something along the lines of global health worker or scholar you need aiding with emerging diseases and health a lot of interdisciplinary tools and skills,” issues abroad. While these tasks are a Craig said. “Not one discipline, not one part of global health, the field extends approach can … fully understand global much farther health issues or beyond that. At solve global health D a r t m o u t h , “My goal with the problems.” g lobal health minor was to have it L i l y encompasses Simon ’22 is domestic health at some level rooted pursuing a global concerns, as well in one discipline, but health minor and as looking at the has taken a few recognize that to be intersections of classes in global health equity, a successful global health both in human rights health scholar or the anthropology and cultural department and implications in worker you need a lot other departments. health. She said one of of interdisciplinary For students her favorite classes tools and skills.” interested in global has been GEOG health, there are 6, “Introduction many paths to take. -SIENNA CRAIG, to International The College offers Development,” both curricular ANTHROPOLOGY because it opened and co-curricular PROFESSOR her eyes to how opportunities to much action needs study global health to be taken. within the anthropology department and “[International development] was the Global Health Initiative at the Dickey very motivating and inspired me to learn Center for International Understanding. more and become more aware about In the anthropology department, what’s going on in the world and see if students can choose to either minor in there’s any small thing I can do,” Simon global health or major in anthropology said. “I appreciate that it’s learning about modified with global health, according things that are happening now. I think to anthropology professor Sienna Craig. it’s important to know what’s going on Anthropology department administrator in the world.” Amy Potter said that Craig spearheaded Another way to pursue global health the development of the global health at Dartmouth is through the Dickey minor, which went into effect in 2011. Center, which includes opportunities Since then, the number of global health such as internships, the Global Health minors has steadily grown from three Fellows program, a Global Health students in 2012 to 23 this year, according Certificate and the Global Health to Potter. Policy Lab. These opportunities are not The minor is set up as a ‘choose mutually exclusive with the global health your own adventure,’ Craig explained, minor, and many students who pursue the requiring an introductory course and five minor also participate in these options, courses, each in a different approach to according to Craig. global health. Four of these six classes are The Global Health Fellows program required to be taken in the anthropology draws in undergraduate, medical and department, and many students choose graduate students who have an interest in to take the outside classes in departments learning more about global health issues, such as biology and geography, Craig according to Anne Sosin, the director for said. the Global Health Initiative. “My goal with the minor was to have “Students who have a strong interest it at some level rooted in one discipline, in global health but whose academic
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strengths or passions may lie outside anthropology are quite well-served by the Global Health Fellows program,” Craig said. “The speaker series, leadership work and the retreat are not at all exclusive to one discipline; they draw from many disciplines.” Hanna Bliska ’20, who has been a Global Health Fellow for three years, said the experience has been meaningful and positive for her. She said she would recommend this program to students of all majors because it encourages fellows to grapple with issues they otherwise would not have the chance to explore. “I came into the program from a background of environmental studies and not really knowing too much about health, so a lot of it was a huge learning curve for me in terms of learning about these topics that involve a lot of medical understanding,” Bliska said. “It was great to be with other students that had all these different perspectives on health and came at it from all different backgrounds and
wanted to discuss these issues in global health that are so important.” Another one of the popular experiences offered by the Dickey Center is the global health certificate, which is a collection of four courses taken in global health in conjunction with a capstone project and a month-long field experience, although many students will do a full-term experience, according to Sosin. The certificate was established as a way for students to have recognition for both their coursework and their fieldwork, Sosin said. These experiences are useful for students pursuing graduate studies as well as those pursuing professional opportunities in global health. Kennedy Jensen ’18 Med ’23 said her experiences abroad have helped shape how she thinks about different health systems and how she views herself as an agent of change. “[The certificate] is neat because it
helps students reflect on how they’ve grown to understand the field of global health through both their classwork and their lived experiences,” Jensen said. “I found it valuable because it allowed me to reflect on my international internships through the lense of some of the course work that I’ve done.” Having done two international internships during her undergraduate education, Jensen said she found herself prepared to think about difficult topics such as issues of health inequity, power imbalance and cultural humility. “[Teaching ethical issues within global health] is something Dartmouth is really a leader on and something I’m really proud to say I was a part of,” Jensen said. “I think there’s always room for growth and change, but being a part of these programs is absolutely something that shaped my Dartmouth experience as a whole, and shaped the way that I think about and see the world and myself in it.”
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The Tragedy of the Freshman Plague STORY
By George Gerber
If you’re sick during freshman year, it’s as if you’re quarantined off from everyone else. If you dare to cough in the middle of class, everyone gives you the side-eye. While Dartmouth’s reputation may not lie in being overly competitive, one competition exists freshman year: avoiding the freshman plague. Some ’23s have already failed in this great race to stay healthy — myself
included. I commend those who have successfully avoided it, but such a feat is getting harder and harder as we cross the midpoint of the term. When I woke up with a runny nose and nasty cough on the first day of classes, I was agitated, to say the least. Unfortunately, my first week of college involved more NyQuil™ than I ever expected. Being sick drained so much of my energy and
made it harder to meet new people. Plus, no one wanted to contract the disease from me, so I was always kept at a distance. It took a week for my symptoms to subside, but remnants of the plague still come back even four weeks later. My cough really never went away. Trying to investigate the plague proved to be extremely difficult. Contracting it is a random process,
and there’s no one “patient zero” on whom we can place the blame. Just a few facts are known about the mysterious disease. We know that it consists mainly of congestion, sore throat and a cough. It tends to linger for a long time, and medication may or may not relieve the symptoms. Mihir Sardesai ’23 has the common symptoms of the plague and has headaches from it. Though
he has been taking medication, he said hasn’t helped much. He said that being sick has really inconvenienced him. “I’ve had it for the past two months, and it hasn’t gone away yet. I’ve gone to Dick’s House four times and even took a blood test for it. I’m currently on an antibiotic for a sinus infection,” Sardesai said. Sardesai also added that being
CLARA PAKMAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
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away from home has made him want to take stock of where else miss his family and that his illness [they could] rely on. And so, socially, has added to his homesickness. It’s maybe that’s when [they] connect difficult to have to take care of his with parents or friends or resources sickness just as classes begin, he said. here so that [they] can take time Director of the Student Wellness to take care of [themselves] or get Center Caitlin Barthelmes said what [they] need to perform better that homesickness is a common in class,” Barthelmes said. experience for many students. I’ve noticed that life at Dartmouth However, being sick freshman year keeps bustling on for those with the of college clearly adds a deeper layer plague. The quarter system moves at to this phenomenon. At home when such a quick pace that most students I got sick, I could stay home from cannot afford to stay in bed all day. school for a day to rest. However, in They work through the sickness, college, my family and old friends and it’s likely the lack of rest and are not here to stress that causes take care of me. "It makes me want to the plague to linger I am stuck in so long. The sleep through classes, for an entirely new burden of being place, isolated and I actually ended sick compounds from t h e up missing an x-hour with the normal familiar faces pressure of one’s that make me on a Tuesday. I went ac ad em i c s an d feel at home. social life. The to my morning class, The Student result only makes but I came back and Wellness m at t e r s wo r s e, Center has a went right to sleep creating a vicious framework to because my head hurt cycle of getting help students slightly better one u n d e r s t a n d so much." day only to get their wellness sicker the next. and wellbeing. Yue Zhuo ’23 -YUE ZHUO '23 Barthelmes said said she has had that wellness a difficult time has many different components and dealing with being sick so early in isn’t merely confined to one’s physical her Dartmouth experience. It started or mental health. To illustrate this with a headache during week three, point, she used an example of a tree and the plague only got worse from with seven distinct roots to describe there. Her symptoms have varied the factors that affect students. dramatically in the past two weeks, Each root has a purpose and helps but some new ones — like the us thrive intellectually, physically, infamous cough — have recently financially, environmentally, socially, appeared. There’s no sign that the emotionally and spiritually. If even plague is going away anytime soon just one root suffers, Barthelmes for her, and she mentioned that this said, it can impact the other roots. illness has affected her daily life. For example, if you’re dealing with “It makes me want to sleep an illness and place stress on your through classes, and I actually ended physical health, your emotional up missing an x-hour on a Tuesday. I wellness might also suffer because went to my morning class, but I came of excess worrying about keeping back and went right to sleep because up with classes. Intellectual wellness my head hurt so much,” Zhuo said. might also suffer due to a lack Zhuo, like many first-year of engagement. The model she students, is taking a heavy workload suggested helps to represent the this fall. She’s been busy studying for interconnectedness of all the roots. her classes while trying to make time “I like to also offer the alternative for her friends and extracurriculars. that when one of our roots is It’s one thing to be ill at Dartmouth, struggling, we can also look to what but it’s a whole different thing to a sick root might be able to replenish us freshman at the College. Everything’s or restore us or support us. So, for so new, and sickness can really trouble instance, students who might be first-year students. It makes school suffering with an illness, they might work hard to get through, and it
SAPHFIRE BROWN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
makes it tougher to stay positive. To those that are currently sick, take the time to get some rest and get better; it’ll only help you in the long run.
To those that haven’t dealt with the freshman plague yet, try to avoid it at all costs. As cliché as it is, keep washing your hands and get proper
rest. Trust me when I say that it’s better to take the extra time to care for yourself than to battle a cold all of freshman fall.
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Changing the Culture: Drinking at Dartmouth STORY
By Angeline Scarlotta
College and alcohol are invariably connected: preparing for midterms and preparing for tailgates, finishing your essay and finishing your game of pong, going to class and going out for the night exist in tandem. At Dartmouth — a college jokingly referred to as “The Party Ivy,” with a beer keg as its official-unofficial mascot and whose student population is majority affiliated — this is especially true. It can be difficult for students to keep this balance and, in some cases, can lead to high-risk drinking behaviors. A student who wishes to remain anonymous has witnessed the dangers of this firsthand, through the experience of having to “Good Sam” a fellow student. It was Homecoming weekend, and the student had woken up at around 1 a.m. Three men were yelling and marching through the hall and barged into the student’s room. Realizing that they had walked into the wrong dorm, they went into the room next door. “They ended up in the room next to me,” the student said. “And I kind of heard what was going on throughout the night. And they started saying things like, ‘Oh, I had way more to drink than he did,’ ‘He’s fine,’ you know, ‘Don’t be such a p*ssy about it,’ like that kind of thing. I started to get kind of concerned because literally the whole time this person that they’re talking about hasn’t said anything or made any sort of acknowledgement that they are, in fact, alive.” The student said that he could only hear the sound of the third person vomiting on the floor. So the student went to the bathroom and called Safety and Security. The man next door was found to be unresponsive by paramedics and was taken to the hospital. “About two weeks after that I got a follow-up from the SNS officer involved, and apparently it had been a really serious situation,” the student said. “I learned from
SAPHFIRE BROWN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
other people on our floor that he was in the hospital for, like, three days after that.” Earlier this year, the Student Wellness Center released a report on undergraduate alcohol use titled, “Dartmouth Student Well-Being: High-Risk Drinking Prevention.” The report revealed that, in 2018, 41 percent of Dartmouth undergraduates reported having had five or more alcoholic drinks at one time in the two weeks prior, being classified as highrisk drinkers. Fifty-nine percent reported having not had five or more alcoholic drinks at one time in the two weeks prior, with 41 percent of those undergraduates classified as lower-risk drinkers and 18 percent as non-drinkers. The majority of students also practice protective behaviors when drinking:
75 percent eat before and/or during drinking most of the time or always and 65 percent keep track of how many drinks they are having most of the time or all the time. Despite the majority of students practicing safe drinking behaviors, however, there is still a significant proportion that do not. Noble Rai ’23 said she was shocked by the prevalence of drinking at Dartmouth. “I didn’t think it would be so prevalent among the main student body,” Raid said. “It very much feels like if you want to go out and be involved in social life, you need to drink. Alternatives to drinking need to be better advertised and better advocated.” Collis After Dark is perhaps the most well known of these alternatives. This features events
on Friday and Saturday nights such bubble ball soccer, inflata-battles and outdoor movie showings. Additionally, House communities often host events for their residents. Alcohol-related resources are numerous on campus — some offer support for people struggling with alcohol abuse or provide drinking education and more. The Good Samaritan Policy is just one offered at Dartmouth. The Student Wellness Center provides other resources, such as the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students, or BASICS program, AlcoholEDU for first year s, eCHECKUP TO GO, counseling and links to national resources. Caitlin Barthelmes, the director of the Student Wellness Center, reflected on the developing drinking
culture at Dartmouth over her eight years working with the College. “I’ve seen a lot of evolution happening around the subjects of health and well-being, including alcohol use as well,” Barthelmes said. “I think one of the most notable is just a growing bystander culture in general at Dartmouth from when I began. A lot more endorsement of the idea of stepping and checking in on friends, on peers. I think that’s really exciting because we’re building a culture of care here.” She also talked about high-risk drinking activity, and suggested that the Dartmouth community should encourage a culture of awareness and care. She said that the students should remind each other to take care of their mental and emotional health.
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Students Reflect on Vaping Health Crisis TTLG
By Ale Geisel-Zamora
As of early October, the Center cause. for Disease Control reported that the Even with all this information, some vaping health crisis has claimed 26 Dartmouth students are not worried lives and has been connected with about their vaping habits. A male over 1,000 reported lung injury cases. member of the Class of 2023, who As this health crisis has gained traction chooses to recreationally use a Juul in the media, more and more people and has asked to remain anonymous, may be rethinking their vaping habits, said that he is not planning on quitting including those at Dartmouth, where anytime soon. use of e-cigarettes and vape pens is not “Here’s my go-to line: I understand uncommon. that I should quit, but am I going to? Vaping devices function by heating I’ve done a lot of research on the topic water in order to produce an aerosol because of the news reports, and it’s which is inhaled into the lungs. the people using rigged pods [who are Products like Juul sell disposable experiencing harm],” he said. nicotine pods which are equivalent to There is a gaping lack of research approximately one pack of cigarettes. about the long-term side effects of using These devices are intended to be used a Juul. Additionally, the emphasis the to help quit smoking, but have become CDC has placed on the role of THC popular with younger demographics. and rigged pods has convinced some In 2018, 3.6 million youth used e-cigs. Juul users who exclusively use nicotine The nicotine in e-cigs is a strongly pods that they are not at risk of lung addictive substance, which means that injury. Without research to support how users of these products are at risk of harmful Juuling is and consequently becoming addicted. a convincing enough reason to quit, According to the CDC, it has Dartmouth students may be at risk of become popular for users to buy pods developing a nicotine addiction with that contain a mixture of nicotine, continued use. THC (the compound in marijuana that Brian Bowden, lead counselor at produces the “high”), CBD oils and the Student Wellness Center, shared his other additives. These pods are referred thoughts on this student’s perspective: to as “rigged pods,” and are typically “That’s a common young adult thing bought off the street, raising the risk to to feel and think — that it’s not going users as they are even more unclear of to happen to me,” Bowden said. “The what exactly they are inhaling. research and the injuries associated with Of the over 1,000 the major reported cases of pulmonary injury, all patients “Some people might dysfunction have reported use stop vaping because h ave b e e n of some sort of because of vaping device, with of the reports, but a some type of many reporting use lot will probably keep additive with of THC-containing C , bu t doing it because it’s an TallHthe products. Although other most individuals addiction.” vapes have with lung injury are chemicals in known THC users, them that are many report using -ANA MARQUEZ PEREDA dangerous to nicotine as well, ’23 one’s lungs.” and some claim H e to exclusively use continued to nicotine-containing products. Despite explain that he believes with more these commonalities, there is no one information coming out about the device that has been connected to each health crisis, students will begin to make case, and the CDC believes it is possible smarter decisions regarding their use of that the outbreak has more than one vaping devices.
LILA HOVEY/THE DARTMOUTH
At a forum held at the College in September concerning the vaping health crisis and the specific health risks to New Hampshire’s youth, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) discussed a proposed bill that would require e-cigarette companies to fund prevention efforts such as research about the sideeffects caused by their products. This approach resembles that used on tobacco companies, which led to many successful campaigns against smoking. Jordan Koehler ’23 agreed that such an approach may be the most successful way to combat the vaping health crisis, rather than an effort to completely outlaw e-cigarettes. “People are aware of the health risk,” Koehler said. “Yes, people are dying, but people die from cigarettes, too. Cigarettes aren’t about to be outlawed any time soon, so we can’t expect vapes or Juuls to be outlawed any sooner.” Koehler continued that although she does not use Juul or other vaping
devices, she said she thought that many users look at vapes as a safe alternative to cigarettes because of the lack of research showing the long-term side effects of vaping. Similarly, Ana Marquez Pereda ’23 expressed that even with the possible connection between vaping and lung injury, the lack of hard evidence is not enough to curb users of their addiction. “I’m not surprised by the crisis because regular smoking does damage to the lungs, so it makes sense that vaping would do the same thing,” Marquez Pereda said. “Some people might stop vaping because of the reports, but a lot will probably keep doing it because it’s an addiction.” In line with the concept that many young Juul users are becoming addicted to nicotine, Consumer Notice reports a 900 percent increase in the amount of teens vaping from 2011 to 2015. With these numbers in mind, it is not shocking that among 1,043 patients who reported lung injury to the CDC,
80 percent of the patients are under 35 years old. Moreover, the results of a survey conducted by The Dartmouth in early 2018 indicated that 10 percent of the 862 College students that responded owned a Juul. In light of this data, it is not surprising that Dartmouth College Health Service is trying to combat the use of vaping devices. A page on the Dartmouth Health Service website entitled “The Real Cost: Vaping, Juuling & E-cigarettes” provides visitors with a general overview of vaping including a list of some of the known ingredients in e-cigarettes and a video highlighting the dangers of vaping. Additionally, the page provides information for students who may need help quitting. It seems that the vaping health crisis may not have an immediate effect on Dartmouth students’ use, but with the number of reported deaths increasing, e-cigarette users at the College may want to reconsider the dangers of this habit.
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Striking a Balance PHOTO
By Bowen Chen