The Dartmouth 09/14/2016

MIR ROR 9.14.2016

U.S. POLITICS SURVEY| 2-3 STUDENT STEREOTYPES | 4-5

PHOTO ESSAY: STUDENTS OFF DUTY | 6-7

Q&A WITH JANICE MCCABE | 2

TIFANNY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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Q&A with Janice McCabe

Editors’ Note

Sociology professor Janice McCabe talks about her upcoming book and friendships.

Q&A

After a zillion existential crises, Hayley has finally reached senior year of college, which she feels is her last chance at getting her life together and figuring out who she is before she emerges into #reallife.

So she and Lauren decided to make this issue about being #real and #tru to yourself.

That’s right, y’all. This issue is about authenticity, where some awesome writers (and both of us) delved into #deep topics like what influences who we are, how we make friends, and whether we put on facades.

As we look at Baker-Berry covered in what looks like a giant, ugly pillow case of itself, we cant help but wonder: aren’t we all just wearing giant, ugly pillowcases of ourselves #errday? Are we ever #truly ourselves?

In the same vein, Hayley recently found out that Lauren has a fake Instagram, which is for her “#real homies” (hashtag added for continuity and clarity) and features pictures not cool enough for her mainstream account. “Wait, your fake Instagram has the same amount of followers as my real Instagram,” Hayley lamented. #tooreal.

Anyways, we hope you enjoy this issue and #keepitreal the rest of your first week!

follow @thedmirror

09.14.16 VOL. CLXXIII NO. 107 MIRROR EDITORS HAYLEY HOVERTER LAUREN BUDD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF REBECCA ASOULIN PUBLISHER RACHEL DECHIARA

EXECUTIVE EDITOR NICOLE SIMINERI

By Hayley Hoverter

Before I was called into sociology professor Janice McCabe’s airy office for our interview, I thought she was talking with a student. I was surprised to find that the voice I had heard was coming from her computer. She was listening to a voice recording from an interview with a Dartmouth student talking about friendship — the subject of McCabe’s forthcoming and first book, “Connecting in College: How Friendship Networks Matter for Academic and Social Success,” which will be published this year. McCabe has been collecting information about how Dartmouth students make friends. I was curious how this book and her previous article, “Friendship Talk as Identity Work: Defining the Self through Friend Relationships,” shed light on how people grapple with their individuality while making friends.

Can you tell me a little bit about how you ended up starting your book?

JM: I started interviewing students about their friendships for my dissertation. I started the interviews in 2004. The book has been a while in the making. I was interviewing them before and after college. How helpful are those friendships after college? Do those friendships stop? I’ve been listening to interviews with the Dartmouth students and asking them to give me a list of their friends. And I do network analysis, which is visually mapping and discovering patterns that are common among multiple networks.

How do the networks work?

JM: I just started in June or July interviewing Dartmouth students. An example is Valerie, who is connected to everyone because they’re all each other’s friends. She’s a “close-knitter.”

With “compartmentalizers,” their friendships are divided into two groups like friends from campus [and] friends from home. Then there’s the “sampler.” A lot of Steve’s friends were one-on-one friendships, that he met in a club, online and from eating in a food court. His friends didn’t know each other. I’m also interviewing people from Manchester Community College and the University of New Hampshire.

What do you think your work says about authenticity?

JM: Authenticity is about where you draw the lines. Like, “They know the real me, I can let my guard down with them.”

When students drew the line with a friend, it usually means close friend. They named between three and 60 friends. And then I asked them to narrow it down another level. How many people would that be then? Five or 10 or 100?

How many interviews have you done so far?

JM: I have 67 students’ full networks.

What are the patterns you have noticed?

JM: I tink the patterns came through pretty quickly in my analysis, such as the differences in how they navigate networks.

The most obvious pattern was what I learned about tight-knit networkers. They had the lowest GPAs and graduation rates, which was puzzling. There were two types of tight-knit networkers — one group’s friends provided academic support and instrumental help. The other type of tight knitters’ friends dis-

’17: “I’m only ever going to use the new Foco mugs from now on.”

tracted them. Whereas with compartmentalizers, they’d have a group of social and academic friends, and people who would give them academic support like sending texts saying good job.

They got different things from different people. The samplers were academically successful with or without friends.

How did you isolate friendships as factors in your research?

JM: For the most part compartmentalizers during college were compartmentalizers after. With samplers, they weren’t samplers afterwards. They were dissatisfied because they once had one on one support from friends, which was unique to a college environment.

Do you have any interest in teaching a class about these friendship networks?

JM: In my “Youth and Society” class students have read chapters of my book. They told me that they thought most Dartmouth students would be samplers. I thought they would be tight knitters. They’re mostly compartmentalizers.

Do you know how college students’ friendship networks change from year to year at college?

JM: I don’t know for sure yet because I’ve only gotten one snapshot. I hope to see that.

Do you have a hypothesis about what you think happens?

JM: The similarity during and after college makes me think the “compartmentalizers” type is based on how you come into college. But something that came up in my interviews with compartmentalizers is that this configuration can be taxing because you are social with social friends and “football” with football friends. One student is like, “Sometimes I lose track of who I really am.”

Can you explain why you decided to frame the discussion about identity through talk about friendships in your article?

JM: I had planned to look at identity, but not in that way. It was written with a former grad student and I collected follow up data. They talk about the definition of friendship and how they change during and after college. Envisioning self through others, betterment distancing and situating with networks.

How do college students make friends?

JM: Through common interests. Sometimes through clubs and organizations on campus. Sometimes seeing people over and over again encourages you to strike up a conversation even if you appear to be quite different people.

Does your book come across any key teachings for incoming freshmen?

JM: I asked students for advice they’d give to incoming Dartmouth students. The thing that students mention most is that they shouldn’t hesitate to reach out to clubs. I’d say join one or two — not ten, but a couple of clubs, organizations and classes. I think that everyone feels at the beginning of freshman year that they have friends and they don’t.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

’20 sitting in Foco: “I have to get my Collis cookie before it gets cold.”

’17: “Remember that creepy smiley face that popped up when we confirmed our acceptance?

I immediately regretted my decision.”

’18:“I can’t spell GDX.”

’18 watching pong: “This game is so beautiful.”

Authenticity at Dartmouth How do students find ways to be authentic at College?

STORY

By Carolyn Zhou

As the ’20s start a new chapter of their lives on campus, questions of identity and fitting in emerge. Lindsay Kusnarowis ’20, Deven Orie ’19 and Kathryn Lively, professor of sociology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, explained their opinions and observations about authenticity at Dartmouth.

Lively observed that in some ways, college can be an easier time to be oneself.

“College is an opportunity to reinvent yourself because you’re away from your existing friendship networks and family ... but, at the same time, the norms from junior high school and high school are just as strong,” she said. “The thing about college campuses are that they tend to be bigger. You have a little bit more freedom to find people who are like you [since] there are so many different types of people on college campuses.”

Lively noted that during first-year movein, there was a line of freshmen going into a dining hall. She noticed that there were some people dressed in the “stereotypical” Dartmouth fashion, such as plaid shorts and a pink shirt. But, surprisingly, there were also freshmen who were dressed in a way that didn’t conform to these trends. The diversity of the group struck her. For a moment, there was a lot of individuality. By the winter term, however, she said freshmen tend to conform to a classic “Dartmouth” uniformity.

“One month from now, they’re going to look more alike. Right now, they’re bringing the clothes they thought they needed at Dartmouth. In a couple of months, they’ll throw out the things that make them feel like they don’t fit in,” she said. “It was really striking to see students who hadn’t been Dartmouth students for a while ... who were still figuring things out.”

Orie confirmed the idea that there is a stereotypical way to dress on campus, perhaps influenced by the fact that many students hail from private schools. Orie, who went to a charter school, commented that students who didn’t go to prep school sometimes feel like they have to act and dress a certain way and abide by a certain norm.

When asked about the “ideal Dartmouth guy,” Orie said that there is a lot of pressure to be athletic, as many Dartmouth students are members of sports teams.

“A lot of guys want to be on the sports teams here,” he said. “For example, you have 122 people trying out for men’s club soccer today, even though they made it clear that they could only take a team of fifteen.”

Similarly, Kusnarowis commented on the social pressures on freshmen to conform during orientation.

“In orientation, there’s so much pressure to get a group of friends, really click with your floormates, step into social life right away and get close to people right away,” she said.

“There’s a pressure to put forward your best self.”

Orie admitted that as a sophomore, his social life has changed compared to how it was when he was in orientation week.

“Now, I’m talking to a lot less people.

Knowing so many people is not a pro,” he said. “You want to instead develop deeper friendships with certain people.”

Lively also mentioned what she called the move between them because the emotions and “Swimming Duck Syndrome,” the pressure to behaviors are often similar,” she said.

She provided the example of a professor conform socially and academically at Dartand a junkie. People generally tend to be one mouth and an issue that affects Dartmouth or the other; people are rarely both because students of all years. there isn’t a lot of overlap.

“There’s a norm here that everyone loves “The self is completely contextual and Dartmouth, that everything’s easy. There’s not malleable,” she said. a lot of room on campus to publicly address Lively then defined what she thought feelings that go against those primary norms,” she said. “No one wants to admit that they’re authenticity was.

“We tend to stay within a certain set of struggling.” behaviors and identities that allow us to feel Orie echoed this idea, reflecting on his comfortable,” she said. “Our authentic self is experiences taking Computer Science 50, a one where we don’t feel a lot of discomfort.” notoriously challenging course.

When asked about authenticity in social “In CS 50, I know people who struggled really hard in that class. But when it was over, media, Lively, like Kusnarowis, pointed out and people were asking how it went, they were that complete authenticity may sometimes be a goal we shouldn’t try to pursue. like, ‘it was so easy, it was a breeze,’ when I “For example, there are social media trolls know for a fact it was hard,” Orie said. who post mean things in anonymous Lively forums, and you can say that these was “Authenticity becomes people are being 100 percent their reluctant selves. But they’re being very to provide something you can ‘find’ authentic anti-social because they’re not taking a simple in a catalogue.’” responsibility for what they’re posting,” definition she said. to an idea In this respect, authenticity is a like the - KATHRYN LIVELY, double-edged sword to Lively. In authentic self.

SOCIOLOGY AND WOMEN’S, general, she does not believe that there is a lot of authenticity on social media “It’s GENDER AND SEXUALITY websites. sort of STUDIES PROFESSOR “I see a lot of people posting the funny, this same things and getting the same reacidea of tions.” having an Lively mentioned the Burning Man authentic festival, an annual gathering in the desert for self, because our sense of self is so embedpeople to express their supposedly authentic ded in the contexts we live in. You act very differently when you’re at home compared to selves.

“If you look at the pictures, everyone is when you’re at school, but does that mean that dressed exactly alike. I could write the naryou’re not acting authentically at home or at school? We put a high premium in the United ratives of people going to Burning Man at this point because they’re all so similar,” she States on authenticity, but society wouldn’t function if we were our authentic selves all the said. “It’s hard to be authentic these days due time ... sometimes we like people to adhere to consumerism and capitalism ... Authenticity becomes something that you can ‘find’ in a norms.”

According to Lively, there should be a fine catalogue.”

Another complexity of authenticity is that balance between total “authenticity” and putit is being your true self without all of the ting on a complete facade. social trappings, argued Lively. However, beKusnarowis had a similar idea, comcause she finds “self ” so inextricably linked to menting on how she and some of her fellow society, it’s difficult for her to define authenticfreshmen classmates posted short bios of ity. themselves on Dartmouth’s Class of 2020 “Today, I asked one of my students, ‘When Facebook group. According to her, on social media, positive expressions generally outweigh you think about yourself, what does that mean?’ One of my students said her name, negative ones.

“The introduction posts definitely skewed class year and sports team. I asked her, ‘Okay, what else?’ And she replied, ‘What do you positive. People don’t generally introduce mean? That’s what I’ve been saying.’ I asked themselves as, ‘Hi, I’m Lindsay, here are my worst fears.’ If being authentic was expressing her again, ‘Is that all you are?’ We develop all of your emotions, positive and negative, all these elevator pitches.”

In terms of changing oneself, Lively bethe time, then I don’t think they were being authentic. However, I doubt that anyone was lieves that people often prefer to change their lying about their interests,” Kusnarowis said. surroundings rather than change who they Kusnarowis expressed doubt that absolute truly are.

“When we don’t feel comfortable in a situauthenticity was something that all people ation, it’s a lot easier to change our environshould and could work toward. Kusnarowis understood that there are situations where it’s ment or get out of that environment rather than change who we are,” she said. “So I do understandable, and even preferred, to not think we have a core understanding of who we disclose everything. are. In the transition to college, you’re being In terms of defining authenticity, Lively given the opportunity to do things differently. began by explaining what the self is.

We often don’t do that. But we could [if we “People choose to be in roles that are wanted to].” consistent, that cluster together. It’s easy to

MIRROR //3

TRENDING @ Dartmouth

HOUSE SWAG

LOL... Bless these brave ’20s.

OBLIGATORY LUNCH INVITES

Ask not whether your acquaintance will eat with you, ask if you’ll really want to during week 2.

RANKING

11/10 ain’t bad. Thanks, World News!! Gear up to hear this stat as you walk by admissions tours hungover.

ADD/DROP

When Orgo tries to get at ya, drop it likes it’s hot, drop it like it’s hot, drop it like it’s hot.

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Facetimer

Jock

The jock. Often associated with a big, tall athlete (usually male) whose life revolves around sports.

David Wong ’19 said jocks are associated with “people who are very good at athletics to the extent that they are not perceived as intelligent.”

A jock might never be seen without their sports team, or rarely wear apparel other than their team’s gear or the classic gray DP2 t-shirt.

Kristina Heggedal ’17 noted that jocks’ connections with their team are often perceived as “cliquey.”

Being a jock is also about a specific attitude, often characterized by being excessively loud in class and “believing that the world is theirs,” explained Heggedal.

Wong says that what he imagines when he thinks of a jock is someone who is “more muscular, constantly wearing athletic clothes, spending a lot of time at the gym and wearing tank tops to show off their biceps.”

Camille Wang ’17 said that she has never heard this term at Dartmouth; however, Emily Levine ’19 commented that the stereotype does, in fact, exist at the College.

The facetimey person. You’ll usually see this person in Baker lobby, also knows as “Blobby” — but what you won’t see is this person actually doing work.

Instead, they will speak to seemingly every person that walks by, giving off the impression that they actually know every person on campus.

Other popular locations include the dark side of Foco and First-Floor Berry. Wong said that facetiminess is also about a particular vibe: one where the person always seems down for a nice long conversation, even when the time is not right. For example, if you were sitting in Baker lobby with a “no intent to talk to people” face, Wong explained, then passers-by would remain passers-by and facetiminess would not be achieved.

Heggedal said that the locales of facetimey people maximize efficiency: in a prime location, the social scene comes to you, and light work can get done. However, a truly facetimey individual can take the social scene anywhere, even to the quieter floors of Berry, as the seemingly endless hordes of friends are drawn to their presence.

Student Ster eo

By Nelly Mendoza-Mendo

Outdoorsperson

The DOC person. One might imagine this person wearing mainly flannel and spending most of their weekends on hikes. According to Heggedal, their fashion can best be described as crunchy and predominantly plaid, and this type of person can consistently be found on the steps of Robinson Hall.

She added that occasionally these style choices are paired with particularly fit and muscular body types, giving off the impression that the steps-dweller can also “pull themselves by their fingertips from rocks,” but this is not the norm.

The outdoorsy type is also loyal to Patagonia, Wong said, and appears prepared to go into the wilderness at a moment’s notice.

DOC aficionados also seem more willing than the average person to wake up at ungodly hours, refer to any outing as an “adventure” and still enjoy Trips delicacies such as corn nuts and Cabot cheese on a regular basis.

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Frat Star

The frat star. This person goes out at least three times a week, probably lives in his frat and actually enjoys Keystone Light, preferably consumed over the course of several games of pong. A frat star is rarely seen without their Greek letters.

“You might not imagine them spending much time at the library, only playing pong or drinking,” Wong said.

Levine noted that this stereotype has not changed much over the years.

“Dartmouth is so traditional, there exists that reputation,” she said. “The stereotype in my mind is constantly drinking beer, chugging through a tube, being very loud and obnoxious.”

Popular topics of conversation among the frat star include this weekend’s “sickest” parties, complaints about how old traditions have indeed failed, debates over what is a-side or b-side and general use of the word “bro” as punctuation.

otypes oza

Econ Bro

The econ bro. This guy — and yes, it’s virtually always a guy — has it all figured out, with a clear path into the finance world cut out since he entered Dartmouth.

Heggedal said that the econ bro’s choices — from course selection to fraternity rush — are usually motivated by dreams of a cushy job in finance.

According to Wang, an econ bro usually comes from “prep school, from the New England area,” with “family connections in finance.” Pastel shorts, Sperry’s and Vineyard Vines are the uniform of choice, he said, and econ bros group together.

Wang added that the typical econ bro “probably thinks he is super smart or awesome — it shows in his eyes.”

Though the econ bro’s primary objective in life is to earn money, in many ways he is indistinguishable from the typical frat star, Levine said.

Overworked Pre-med The overworked pre-med. You’ve probably heard this person complain about how organic chemistry is the single most difficult class ever invented, and how lucky you are that you haven’t sacrificed your time, sanity and first-born child to the dreaded “orgo.”

Secretly, this person would like to attend Harvard Medical School, but, until then, the specifics of their grades are kept top secret. What’s obvious, however, is that these students study on weekends rather than going out.

As much as this student is characterized by his or her complaining, there seems to be almost a sense of pride stemming from the hours of work and torturous exams.

Wang noted that one of her pre-med friends sleeps four hours a night on a regular basis — “and she looks like it, too.”

GAYNE KALUSTIAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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Photo Essay: Students off Duty Mirror photo editor captures photos of students in their down time.

PHOTOS

By Tiffany Zhai

MIRR OR //7

MIRROR //8

Greek House Aesthetic

Any look at Dartmouth’s campus would be lacking without acknowledging the presence of Greek houses. Despite claiming to have unique personas, the sturdy brick and looming columns are standard. However, a look below the surface reveals more individuality and aesthetic thought than meets the eye.

By Lauren Budd

In the early 1900s, many fraternities purchased modest frame houses or had brothers build their own. However, the onset of the economic boom of the roaring 20s led Zeta Psi, Kappa Kappa Kappa, Phi Sigma Kappa (now Phi Tau), Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Chi Phi (now Chi Heorot), Theta Delta Chi, Phi Gamma Delta (now Sigma Delta), Sigma Chi (now Tabard), Gamma Delta Chi and Delta Tau Delta (now Gamma Delta Chi) to build their own lavish brick houses, thus creating what we now know as frat row. However, the Great Depression brought all building projects to a halt, and four now-defunct fraternities dissolved completely. During World War II, many Greek houses were used to house Navy sailors and Marines.

PHOTOS BY SEAMORE ZHU

Early Greek House Construction Timeline 1896 The privately owned building that would eventually become Alpha Chi Alpha is built, Epsilon Kappa Theta is built for a professor’s residence, Sigma Phi Epsilon is constructed but is privately owned until 1953.

1853 Construction begins on Zeta Psi but is incomplete until 1925.

1902 Phi Delta Theta (now Phi Delta Alpha) becomes the first fraternity with a physical residence on Webster Avenue.

1915 1902-1908 Kappa Sigma (now Chi Gamma Epsilon) burns down. Dartmouth legend says that Psi Upsilon is constructed.

Phi Delta Alpha was the culprit.

1898 Delta Delta Delta (now Chi Delta) is constructed as a faculty duplex. It was previously occupied by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and College substance-free housing. Delta Upsilon (a now-defunct fraternity) is built, now occupied by Kappa Delta Epsilon.

1924 Theta Delta Chi is constructed.

1925 Tri-Kap’s third and current residence is constructed, Sigma Nu is constructed.

1920s Amarna moves to East Wheelock Street, Kappa Kappa Gamma is constructed.

1931 Beta Theta Pi (now Beta Alpha Omega) is built, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is constructed.

1932 Sigma Chi (now Tabard) is constructed.

1929 Delta Tau Delta (now Bones Gate) is rebuilt after a fire, Chi Heorot is built.

1940 Alpha Theta builds a new house after a furnace leak in the old house kills nine house members.