VOL. CLXXII NO. 63
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Student Assembaly debate provides discussion forum
RAIN HIGH 47 LOW 45
By REBECCA ASOULIN The Dartmouth Staff
DANIEL BERTHE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
At Fridays’s debate, Student Assembly presidential candidates Frank Cunningham ’16 and Jake Gaba ’16 and vice presidential candidates Julia Dressel ’17 and Penelope Williams ’16 discussed key points of their campaign platforms, their qualifications and issues ranging from diversity and inclusivity on campus to the role of Student Assembly. Hosted by The Dartmouth and moderated by executive editor Jessica Avitabile ’16, the debate was the only one of its kind. Cun-
Student Assembly candidates debated in Collis Common Ground last Friday.
SPORTS
PARISI ’15 ON AND OFF THE DIAMOND PAGE SW4
OPINION
VERBUM ULTIMUM: VOTE FOR FRANK PAGE 4
ARTS
“HUNTING GROUND” SHOWS AT HOP
SEE DEBATE PAGE 5
Panhell will begin Greek houses search for advisors mentorship program B y NOAH GOLDSTEIN The Dartmouth Staff
By HANNAH HYE MIN CHUNG The Dartmouth Staff
Panhellenic Council is launching a “Big Sister” program, its pilot mentorship initiative that will match firstyear female students with affiliated upperclasswomen. The program aims to give freshmen women more personal opportunities to learn about the Greek experience
and recruitment process, as well as generate inter-class connections and relationships. Panhell vice president of public relations Allison Chou ’17 said that through this program, a first-year female student will be paired up with an affiliated woman before SEE PANHELL PAGE 2
Greek houses are in the process of searching for one male and one female faculty advisor, as required by College President Phil Hanlon’s “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy initiative. Greek Letter Organizations and Societies director Wes Schaub said the goal is to have the advisors in place by this fall, though there is no official deadline.
Each house is conducting its own search. Schaub said the GLOS is offering assistance, though this assistance has its limits considering that each house will be looking for advisors who have a connection to their respective organization. Schaub said he trusts each house to choose the best advisor for them. Some houses, such as Sigma Delta sorority, have already solidified plans for their advisors. Assistance from GLOS
will include helping to facilitate meetings between faculty members and house members and creating guidelines to help officers in each house discuss the role of the position along with expectations for the role. “The faculty advisor needs to want to be involved with the organization and want to build that relationship with students outside of the classroom,” Schaub said. “There SEE ADVISORS PAGE 5
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Fifth-annual Earth Week programming kicks off B y KELSEY FLOWER The Dartmouth Staff
Students can take part in Dartmouth’s fifth-annual celebration of Earth Week by tasting food at “Farm Fresh Friday,” becoming aware of their waste production via the Dartmouth Dining Services food waste display and engaging in discussion at the social justice and sustainability
OCEAN’S FOURTEEN
dinner. Sustainability program manager Jenna Musco ’11 said that over the past five years, the College’s office of sustainability has honed in on three to four core Earth Week events that focus on three goals — educating members of the Dartmouth community about sustainability, WEIJIA TANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
SEE EARTH WEEK PAGE 3
Collis After Dark hosted a casino night with prizes given out during a raffle.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
PAGE 2
DAily debriefing The New Hampshire Liquor Commission cautioned the state legislature that a new liquor store in Massachusetts could negatively impact state sales, the Valley News reported. Total Wine and More, a Maryland-based national chain, plans to open a store in Natick, Massachusetts, which could reportedly lead to a loss of $60 million in sales in New Hampshire. This potential deficit represents about half of the state’s sales to Massachusetts residents. Cross-border sales contribute to approximately 50 percent of state liquor sales. The state Liquor Commission generated $621 million in sales during the last fiscal year, producing about $148.6 million in revenue. The proposal to open the new store is currently awaiting state approval. Hillary Clinton will visit Concord, New Hampshire, on April 21 to meet with teachers and students at the New Hampshire Technical Institute, her first state visit since announcing her presidential candidacy, according to the Concord Monitor. Clinton will tour the school in the morning and talk to students and teachers. She is expected to arrive in New Hampshire on April 20 to visit employees and company leaders at Whitney Brothers, Inc., a family-owned furniture business. The Vermont House of Representatives approved a bill that makes gun possession a state-level crime for certain violent criminals and requires those in need of mental health treatment to be reported to the federal background check system, according to VTDigger. If the governor signs the bill, Vermont will be the last state to make possession of a gun a state-level crime for certain violent criminals. The bill, S.141, passed in the House 80-62, and was passed by the Senate last month. Final approval came after several key proponents offered moving testimony, despite opponents’ concerns that the bill would infringe on Second Amendment rights and eliminate tradition. The portions of the bill regarding violent criminals would be implemented on July 1, while the reporting requirements go into effect on Oct. 1. —Compiled by Erin Lee
Corrections We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
BAND TOGETHER
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
Panhell offers first-years support for rush FROM PANHELL PAGE 1
pre-rush events begin this spring, and the match up will last until this fall. “Our hope is that the Big Sister program will serve to demystify the recruitment process and sorority experience as a whole,” she said. Mentorship applications were due yesterday, though the date is subject to change depending on the number of applications received. Panhell vice president of community and outreach Jessica Zischke ’16 said that the council understands that as pre-rush events and recruitment approach, first-year female students begin to form questions about the sorority system in general. “Our main motivation behind this is to create a venue for freshmen to ask the questions they want to on a more personal basis,” she said. To ensure that each house is equally represented through the program, Panhell has set a number for how many women can become mentors from each house, Chou said. The council intends to make it “extremely clear” to potential mentors that bid guarantees or any behavior that could pressure a first-year woman to join any particular house is not acceptable, she said. Zischke said the program aims
to provide general information on campus sororities, rather than insight on a specific house. “It’s not so much about thinking about the house that the mentor is affiliated with from the mentee’s perspective, but more just talking about the sorority experience as a whole,” she said. The Big Sister program will pair one mentor with either one or two mentees as a group, depending on what the mentees prefer, Chou said. The pairs will be created on a random basis, but if there are specific characteristics that a mentee is looking for in her mentor, Panhell will take the request into consideration in creating the match-up, as long as the mentee does not request a mentor from a specific house. Zischke said that considering this is a pilot program, mentors and mentees’ requests for organized meetings or activities will be taken into consideration as the program continues, if next year’s Panhell executive board decides to continue the program. Rebecca Rodriguez ’17, who applied to become a mentor for the program, said that she was excited by the idea behind the program because she thinks current pre-rush events do not adequately inform first-year students about the sorority experience.
“I thought it would be a great idea to sit down with someone who might be anxious about the process and tell them a little about it,” she said. Cynthia Shin ’18 said that she thinks the program can be helpful in diversifying the connections that first-year students have on campus. At the moment, she said that first-year female students interact only with the upperclasswomen they already know, and this limits first-year students’ exposure to only a handful of houses. “I’m constantly surprised how prejudiced I was about the system because of the way sororities are portrayed in different media and news stories — they are very different from reality,” she said. “I think there are myths to be debunked.” Lisa Seo ’18 said she believes that she may benefit from the program. She said she is considering participating in the rush process but feels like her understanding of the sorority system is very minimal. “Having a private mentor who is already a part of a sorority who can give me information or advice that cannot be obtained from anyone else who is not affiliated will be great,” she said. Zischke is a member of The Dartmouth senior staff, and Chou is a member of The Dartmouth photo staff.
The Environmental Studies Program at Dartmouth College presents
The George Link Junior Environmental Awareness Lecture
“Sustainable Revolutions: The Quest for Real Food and Wine in the 21st Century”
Deirdre Heekin
Tuesday, April 21 at 7:00 PM Dartmouth College 105 Dartmouth Hall
Deirdre Heekin is a Vermont farmer, restauranteur, grape grower and wine maker. She will discuss passages from her new book, An Unlikely Vineyard: The Education of a Farmer and Her Quest for Terroir, and examine how we can feed the world and be sustainable and how Dartmouth undergraduates might examine their own journey in relation to sustainable agriculture.
Book signing at 8:00 PM hosted by the Norwich Bookstore
KATELYN JONES/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Student bands take the stage at Collis AFter Dark’s Battle of the Bands.
Visit http://envs.dartmouth.edu/ or call 603‐646‐2838 for more info
Free and Open to the Public
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
PAGE 3
Earth Week programming stresses “fun” side of sustainability The third event on the calendar is a screening of the documentary encouraging participation and “Wrenched” (2014), a film about recognizing those who contribute Edward Abbey, an environmental advocate of the 1970s and ’80s at to sustainability at the College. T h i s ye a r ’s p ro g r a m m i n g the Vermont Institute of Natural kicked off with a sustainability so- Science, with which the sustainlutions café hosted by the Hopkins ability office partnered to host the Center last Thursday. The Nile event. The final event of the week will Project, a group of performers from the 11 countries that border be “Farm Fresh Friday,” which the Nile River, were present at a Musco said is “beloved” by studiscussion of how preserving Nile dents. The event is organized by the River watershed compares to the Connecticut River watershed in sustainability office’s Green Greek a broader discussion of resource staff. Musco described it as a fun, social event with a sustainability conservation. The biggest event of the week, theme. Vendors from across the the sustainability and social jus- Upper Valley are invited to give out samples of tice dinner, will their food. take place toThe hope night at the Ha- “I think sustainability for “Farm Fresh nover Inn and touches a lot of Friday” is to will include a different aspects of inspire students facilitated dinto think that ner discussion campus, and this sustainability is about the in- is a time where we not just a means tersection of to correct for s u s t a i n a b i l - can really make that human impact ity, inclusivity, visible.” on the environc o m m u n i t y, ment, but can justice and be fun in and s t e w a r d s h i p, -KATIE WILLIAMSON of itself, Musco Musco said. ’15, STRATEGIC said. “ T he i d ea As an overwas to bring COMMUNICATIONS v i e w, M u s c o together two INTER IN THE OFFICE OF said that they important SUSTAINABILITY try to cater their movements in events to difthe world toferent interests day,” she said, citing the large amount of overlap at Dartmouth and in the Upper between the social justice and Valley that are action-oriented but can also be more of a passive sustainability movements. The event has two purposes, learning opportunity. Musco added that the diversity Musco explained. One is to “push” the sustainability office and the of the events provides an opporDartmouth community to keep tunity for varied student interest. The Earth Week Committee, having conversations about the intersection of these issues, and the which was formed two years ago to other to show sustainability com- promote visibility and grass roots munity members that they have participation in Earth Week, is peers that are willing to engage also organizing awareness events in places with high student body with these issues. The George Link Jr. Environ- traffic, Musco said. Strategic communications mental Awareness Lecture, titled “Sustainable Revolutions: The intern Katie Williamson ’15 said Quest for Real Food and Wine in she helped create the committee the 21st Century,” will take place and is currently leading it. The Tuesday. This year, it will feature committee is responsible for two Deirdre Heekin — a Vermont main projects — an Earth Week far mer, restauranteur, g rape display in Baker-Berry Library and grower and wine maker. Heekin a DDS food waste display at the will be reading passages from her Class of 1953 Commons, in addinew book, “An Unlikely Vineyard: tion to fielding a communications The Education of a Farmer and team. Williamson said that one of the Her Quest for Terroir,” and talking about the local food system and reasons she started the committee last year was because she saw other the economy. “We’re doing a lot to develop groups successfully using weeks to our farm program and there are a spotlight issues and raise awarelot of students interested in food ness. “I think sustainability touches a and agriculture and the business around those two things,” Musco lot of different aspects of campus, said. “We’re hoping that she’s able and this is a time where we can to come and speak about those make that really visible,” she said. On Wednesday from 5:30 to experiences.” FROM EARTH WEEK PAGE 1
TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Earth Week will commence this week with a series of programming organized by the College’s office of sustainability.
8:30 p.m., students in ’53 Commons will be asked to scrape their food into clear plastic bins instead of putting it directly onto the conveyor belt, event organizer Claire Beskin ’16 said. The amount of people who scrape their food will be recorded with clickers, and the blackboard will hold a running tally of how many bins have been filled. At the end of the night, the volume of food that is wasted per student at dinner will
film a tribute to
oscar-nominateD filmmaker
Abderrahmane Sissako
be calculated, she said. The clear bins will create a “visual, powerful image” of how much food is wasted at ’53 Commons and hopefully “spark dialogue,” Beskin added. Both Musco and Williamson said they see Earth Week as an important time to make students excited about sustainability. Wil-
liamson also said that the College has a long way to go in terms of improving its sustainability efforts. “Seeing as Dartmouth is in this beautiful rural area, has access to so many amazing natural resources and there’s so much here to share, it would be sad if we couldn’t really involve students more,” Williamson said.
HopkiNs CeNter for tHe Arts
TIG NOTARO
wed MAY 20 7 pm SPAULDING AUDITORIUM
the evening includes a screening of Timbuktu, presentation of the Dartmouth film award and a post-film conversation with mr. sissako and aaas Professor ayo coly
tue apr 21 7 pm
loew • $8 • Dartmouth iDs $5
hop.dartmouth.edu • 603.646.2422 Dartmouth College • Hanover, NH
A favorite of Conan, This American Life, and her top-ranking weekly podcast, Professor Blastoff, Notaro rocketed to fame three outh years ago when her D a r t m nt s de u t s “gorgeously acute stand-up” set (Louis CK) $ about a platter of recent horrors—her beloved mother’s sudden death, a bad breakup, and a breast cancer diagnosis—went viral. One of Rolling Stone’s “50 Funniest People Now,” she brings her signature deadpan delivery to guest roles on network and cable TV, and at comedy and music festivals around the world.
10
Show may include mature language. hop.dartmouth.edu • 603.646.2422 • Dartmouth College • Hanover, NH
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
PAGE 4
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
VERBUM ULTIMUM THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD
CONTRIBUTING Columnist REEM CHAMSEDDINE ’17
Vote Frank Cunningham
Learning from Rwanda
Despite various concerns, we endorse Cunningham/Dressel. This year’s Student Assembly elections come things” — as well as new programming to down to experience. help students meet staff members and other As the incumbent student body vice students. president, there’s no question that Frank Cun- While reservations remain about Cunningningham ’16 has experience. Though Cunning- ham’s trustworthiness, he did apologize for and ham’s campaign at times rests too heavily on his correct the now-notorious misallocation of past experience — particularly considering the funds that occurred during his tenure on the fact that his tenure on the Student Assembly Student Assembly. Yet, while Cunningham and was not without its critics — he has a point. Dressel’s ticket holds promise, their message can When his opponent’s claim to fame is an up- come off as confused at times. Cunningham beat video set to a Pharrell Williams’ song, one capitalizes on his image of as the pro-Greek cannot blame Cunningham for reminding the savior of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” student body of his qualifications. presidential steering committee. At the same We do not doubt that Jake Gaba ’16 wants time, their campaign rests on the premise that to help the student body, but we do question the two appeal to a broad swath of campus, his ability to do so. Gaba and his vice presi- including, as the two mentioned during the dedential candidate bate, LGBTQ students Penelope Williams and African-American ’16 reminded the “As the incumbent student students. These groups audience at last body vice president, there’s no and the Greek system Friday’s Student question that Frank Cunningham are by no means muAssembly debate ’16 has experience.” tually exclusive, but a multiple times that continued and uncrititheir ticket has simical defense of the Greek lar aims to that of system, by definition, Cunningham and Julia Dressel ’17, as if this does not align with the needs of all students. similarity were a main selling point. While What we find most promising is their proGaba and Williams are earnest, they were fessed interest in improving student life for unprepared. This lack of preparation was everyone — not their appeals to the faction of evident in the debate, as the two faltered to campus that arguably holds the most power answer questions and veered off topic several out of any group. Protecting Greek interests times. may win over a wide enough margin of the If the Gaba/Williams ticket is so similar to student body that the two will get elected, but that of Cunningham and Dressel’s, one cannot ita is hardly a novel or radical idea. Greek help but wonder why the student body does students have the Panhellenic Council, the Innot just elect the latter. Moreover, while Gaba terfraternity Council and the Greek Leadership and Williams may believe that their tickets have Council to protect their interests. We hope that similar aims, their answers told a different story. Cunningham views the Student Assembly as a Cunningham and Dressel stressed increased platform to advocate for the needs and rights discussion of diversity, inclusivity and mental of all students, regardless of their affiliation. health, as well as greater representation of While we think that the Gaba and Williams student interests on the Board of Trustees and have the student body’s best interest at heart, in administrative policy. They presented fleshed we ultimately endorse Frank Cunningham out — though perhaps flawed — proposals and Julia Dressel for student body president to achieve these aims. Gaba and Williams and vice president. And, regardless of who stressed magazine subscriptions and existing you support, we encourage all our readers to programming — what they called “the little vote.
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The United States should look to Rwanda’s female representation in government. With Hillary Clinton officially announcing her candidacy for president, the potential for a woman to lead the United States is once again a possibility. In the small country of Rwanda, women are also making significant strides in the political sphere. Rwanda boasts an impressive 63.8 percent of female parliamentarians in their lower house — the highest proportion across all countries and more than 10 percent above second-place Bolivia. The United States, with women making up 19.4 percent of the House and 20 of the Senate, pales in comparison. For some, Rwanda may be remembered for the country’s 1994 genocide that claimed the lives of up to a million. Since then, however, the nation has rebuilt itself — and women have played a large role in that. Beyond political participation, women in Rwanda have many roles in government and are active in business and civil society. As reported in Foreign Affairs’ 2014 May and June issue, seven of the 14 Supreme Court justices are women and “boys and girls now attend compulsory primary and secondary school in equal numbers.” Women may own and inherit property and pass citizenship to their children. There are government funds aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship among women, and businesswomen are prominent members of Rwanda’s private sector. Many columnists have discussed the devastating outcome of the genocide as a contributing factor to the rise of influence of the country’s women. Once the genocide ended, few government institutions remained intact. Many of today’s institutions were built from scratch, and they required women’s participation from the beginning for several reasons. When interviewed by Foreign Affairs, Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame, remembered being a 17-yearold human rights activist in exile — after what he experienced, he vocalized that he could not ignore women’s rights. Many of today’s young generation were raised by single mothers in refugee camps, which many say inspired the generation who worked to rebuild the country. Yet, a main factor behind this rise in women’s political power is the fact that Rwanda’s adult
population was disproportionately female immediately after the genocide — in fact, they accounted for up to 70 percent of the population. With that in mind, it makes sense that women filled the roles that men would have otherwise held — but, what is more interesting is that women were not set aside when gender proportions in the general population became more balanced over time. Today, the male to female population ratio is almost equal — according to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, the population is roughly 48.2 male percent and 51.8 percent female. Despite this, there is still a minimum quota set at 30 percent for female representation throughout the government. Yet instead of merely meeting quota or holding only half of the parliament, women still hold the majority. In my opinion, this is a reflection of the cultural change around women leaders, and not the effect of any particular laws or conditions. What began as an ad hoc solution for the aftermath of a genocide became a real and viable political trend. The lesson here is that quotas and programs encouraging women leaders are only half the picture. The law alone does not demand change — a cultural shift and a adjustment to citizens’ acceptance of female politicians is also necessary. With such change, rather than seeing the world’s parliaments simply meet a set quota for the number of women representatives, we may see women being elected or appointed into office as often as men. On some years, that could be 64 percent of the parliament. On others, it might be under 50 percent. The point is that women should not be in office just to fulfill a quota — they should be chosen because of what they offer as politicians and policy-makers. The Rwandan parliament looks like one where the presence of women is not just about achieving the quota. Of course, this is all not to say that Rwanda does not have any problems with gender equality or relations. There is still criticism of how slowly this progress is reaching the rural side — but nevertheless, all states can learn from the rise of women’s power in Rwanda.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
PAGE 5
Greek houses must find new advisors Debate raises questions about SA’s role on campus FROM ADVISORS PAGE 1
is going to have to be some desire to help young people develop, because really that is what we are about in fraternities and sororities.” Schaub said that his office will advise that a faculty member sign on for one year, then decide whether they want to continue as an advisor for that house in consequent years. The time limit suggestion is meant to ensure that the relationship does not stagnate or the faculty member has to step down due to personal issues. The way in which each faculty advisor will interact with the house will partially depend on the agreement made between the advisor and the house, Schaub said. The advisors could still be expected to meet with individuals within the house, attend programs with them, help officers with a variety of tasks and develop connections between house members and that faculty member’s department, Schaub said. The inclusion of faculty advisors will help houses make better decisions due to the extra input from the professors, Schaub said, adding that some faculty members have positively reacted to the proposal, Schaub said. Once advisors have been decided, faculty members, presidents and alumni advisors will have a lunch meeting to discuss how the initiative is going, Schaub said. The idea of having one male and one female advisor for each house was proposed to the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” presidential steering committee by fraternity and sorority presidents. Having one male and one female advisor will add the experiences of the opposite sex to each house along
with more adult presence, Schaub said. Beta Alpha Omega fraternity president Joseph Geller ’16 said while his house already has a male advisor, several female faculty members have declined an offer for the advisor position. Geller said that in Beta, the executives of the house decide which professors to ask to fulfill the role based on the strength of members’ relationships with particular professors. Members of the house are in favor of the process, as it would both add a
“The faculty advisor needs to want to be involved with the organization and want to build that relationship with students outside of the classroom” - WES SCHAUB, GREEK LETTER ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIETIES DIRECTOR female perspective to the house and bring faculty members and Greek houses closer, Geller said. “I also think it is a good thing to get more faculty involved in Greek houses so they can see some of the positives and so that they can become more informed about us,” Geller said. Beta’s male advisor is history professor George Trumbull. Geller said that Trumbull answers questions for students, comes by the house and gives general advice.
When looking for an advisor, Geller said he wants a professor who wishes to be involved and impact the lives of the house members and who has good goals and values and could help move the house in a positive direction. Sigma Delta sorority scholarship chair Katie Papa ’16 said that her house already decided upon its two advisors, after polling members to determine which professors they admired. Papa declined to give the names of the advisors. The advisors have met with the members, but will soon meet more often. Specific roles have not been decided at Sigma Delt, Papa said, citing a lack of guidelines and expectations from the College so far. Papa said she expects a general involvement from advisors with the house. Members of Sigma Delt have not made any negative comments in regards to the requirement, as they are excited by the prospect of interacting with the professors they recommended, Papa added. She also noted that the professors will provide mentorship to the members while being exposed to what students do outside of the classroom. Papa said that the time period for the tenure of the advisors was undecided, but that she hopes it would end up being a long-term relationship. Most presidents of Greek house contacted for this story did not respond to requests for comment. Theta Delta Chi fraternity president Curtis Oberg ’16 and Chi Heorot fraternity president Adam Charnin-Aker ’16 declined to comment. Geller is a former member of The Dartmouth opinion staff.
KASSAUNDRA AMANN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Greek organizations are required to find a male and female advisor under the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy.
FROM DEBATE PAGE 1
ningham said in an interview that “the stakes” were different because this year’s election had only one debate compared to four last year. Cunningham and Dressel stressed improving inclusivity as a key part of their platform, as well as plans for a student bill of rights, diversity dialogues, mental health programming and student representation on the Board of Trustees. Gaba said that he and Williams would focus on the “little things” that Student Assembly does for students, and quoted an alum in saying, “Life is too short not to fall in love with where you are.” He cited programs such as “take your professor to lunch” and magazine subscriptions as tangible services Student Assembly can provide students. Gaba said he plans to initiate a “take a staff member to lunch” program and student gatherings on the Green. Williams said the most pressing issue on campus is reducing stress and increasing productivity and happiness. She noted that she would “embrace uncertainty” and that Student Assembly leaders do not necessarily need to have the answers to all student concerns, saying she wants to “make conversation and not promise.” She added that just like in running, working towards “huge, lofty goals” is impossible without smaller steps. Gaba, in reference to the fact that he would like to make more videos similar to the viral “Happy” video he produced last spring, said that the video was not simply to show that all students are happy, but to “make them feel happier.” Dressel said that the four-part diversity series, which would include a day of service, follows the belief that “familiarity is the gateway to empathy.” She said that participants in these dialogues would interact with students from diverse backgrounds and gain new perspectives. Dressel said that they plan to bring in student voices to determine where they feel there is a lack of diversity in subject areas or amongst the faculty. Dressel noted her concern that new social event management policies regarding hard alcohol are making social spaces more exclusive, causing students to move social events off campus. Cunningham said that his experience as Student Assembly vice president this past year makes him most qualified him for the position of president as he understands how Student Assembly functions. “I’m not starting from day one — I’m starting from day 366,” Cunningham said. He said that the role of Student Assembly is “to lobby for students and fight for them.” Gaba said that while he does not
have experience on Student Assembly, the election is about trust, and that he is not expecting gifts or to hold events for his staff or friends, saying, “I’m really just doing this to help you guys.” He made reference to the fact that Student Assembly was sanctioned by the Undergraduate Finance Committee in the fall after spending $1,876 of student funds on customized apparel, which UFC deemed to be in violation of the spirit of the Student Activities fee — an $83-perstudent termly tuition charge that the UFC distributes to student groups. Cunningham conceded during the debate that they “used funds improperly,” but affirmed three times that “the money has been paid back in full.” If he were to be elected, he said that Student Assembly would make all financial information public and increase communication with the UFC. Dressel said in an interview that candidates on both sides attacked each others’ platforms more than she expected, but overall the tone of the debate was respectful. Cunningham said he was disappointed by the turnout of the event, which he attributed to a student misperception that these debates “are not critical or valuable.” “Students need to realize that their student government is something serious and something they should want to be a part of and know what’s happening with it,” Cunningham said. Gaba said in an interview that most of the students in attendance came in with “their minds already made up” about which candidate they were supporting. Cunnigham said that he and Dressel’s campaign attempts to address the “sense of hopelessness” around campus issues by generating student feedback and engaging students with issues. The proposed bill of rights would aim to clarify current rights, such as whether Safety and Security can enter student rooms, he said. Cunningham said that he believes administrators are willing to work on this issue. Williams said in an interview that in a debate, it is impossible to anticipate what is going to happen and that she appreciated the flexibility of the moderator in allowing rebuttals. She noted that one of the important moments of the debate came as a result of a question from an attendee about why she and Gaba wanted to use Student Assembly as a platform to make Dartmouth a happier place. She and Gaba both noted that they believe Student Assembly will give them the institutional backing to work towards their goals. “When we say happier we aren’t just referring to students’ day-to-day mood,” Williams said. “But to peoples’ connections to one another, to faculty, staff and the administration.”
PAGE 6
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
DARTMOUTH EVENTS TODAY 4:00 p.m. “Sustainability at the Nexus of Land Use and Energy,” Thayer School of Engineering, Cummings 200
5:00 p.m. “DEN Sales Class” with Katerina Kekola, DEN Innovation Center, 4 Currier Place, Suite 107
6:30 p.m. “Sustainability and Social Justice Dinner,” sponsored by the Office of Sustainability, Hanover Inn Ballroom
TOMORROW ALL DAY Drawing performance by Victor Ekpuk, Hood Museum of Art, second-floor galleries
12:00 p.m. “Multi-Screen Consumption: Data-Driven Content Delivery and Ad Spending,” Tuck School of Business, Frantz Classroom
5:00 p.m. “Eighth Annual Dartmouth Integrative Biology Symposium,” Hopkins Center for the Arts, Top of the Hop
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
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Steve Lough ’87 discusses his experience as a clown B y amelia rosch The Dartmouth Senior Staff
For most people, the leap from anthropology major to circus clown might seem like a bit much, but for Steve Lough ’87, it made perfect sense. Lough spent over 10 years traveling the country as a professional circus clown with a variety of troupes, including the Ringling Bros. What as your time at Dartmouth like? SL: My older brother Mark was an ’81, so I had visited. I was all excited. I applied early and everything like that. If I didn’t get into Dartmouth, I didn’t have a ‘plan b’ or anything. I was very excited to go. ... I ended up majoring in anthropology just because it was the most interesting thing to me at the time, and still is. That’s how I decided to major in anthropology. I was in Richardson [Hall]. I played freshman football. I had some back injuries and stuff, and it was a oneyear deal. A bunch of my friends were rushing at [Chi Heorot fraternity]. I went with them. I hadn’t really rushed anywhere. I went with them and liked it. I joined up and was in Heorot. It was like sophomore year, junior year…I just kept going with anthropology. I almost did a double major with philosophy but decided against that. I did work studies all four years. I started doing work study in the theater department. That was great. I kept on with the [Hopkins Center] for the last couple years. I did Gospel Choir my senior year. Honestly, I was in the frat house until senior year. I moved out because worried that I needed
to concentrate on studying a little bit more. I moved out with a bunch of friends to our own little house. It was wonderful. Boy, I tell you, you never realize how wonderful it is until you get out of there. When I was there, we had the big divestment from South Africa issue and The Dartmouth Review. Boy, I tell you, there was a bunch of animosity about that kind of stuff. It was a microcosm of the entire world. The Dartmouth Review is basically like the rest of the world with American politics. I loved it. I wish I would have been a little more disciplined, but I imagine everyone does. How did you get involved with the circus? SL: There was someone, sophomore year, Susan Merchant [’81] who had an application to clown college. She was juggling on the green. I met her. I got a clown college app from her. I called my mom and said I was going to quit college. My mom was not happy about that — she made a deal with me to keep on and finish. That ended up being great. I’m very happy about that. Senior year, I applied to clown college at the Ringling [Bayfront] Gardens. My friend drove me down to Boston. I auditioned. It was one of those things, I didn’t have a ‘plan b.’ I got into clown college near the end of the year. I was kinda sweating. Everyone else had offers and I was like oh boy. This is going to be interesting. I got into clown college and that’s what I wanted to do. I went to college in Venice, Florida. It was incredibly fun, but it was like a pressure cooker. It was six days a week — 8:30 warm-ups,
hour break for lunch and dinner....I was in a trampoline act, from 8:30 in the morning to 10 at night. We were learning all the clown skills, like juggling, mime, unicycling, pie throwing, how to hit with a board, how to fall down and all the other acrobatic type things. And we’d watch films on circus history and various comedians and clowns and that kind of stuff. That’s what I did. I stayed that summer at Dartmouth at the Hopkins Center and worked there to save money for clown college and went to clown college in the fall.
“That’s one of those lessons about life — you never know when lightning is going to strike and what’s going to be important to you.” -steve lough ’87 Why did you want to be involved in the circus? SL: I grew up in a very small town in South Carolina. It’s very famous for steeplechase horse racing. If you’re not involved in that, it’s just a small southern town. When I was 12, there was a parks program where I learned how to juggle. They were teaching everyone. Most of the other people just gave it up, but I kept practicing juggling. Steve Martin was famous and he did a three-ball routine. I was inspired by that. When I had
been a child, I had seen the Ringling Brothers Circus. I remembered the animals and the clown, Lou Jacobs. I looked at those two things, with the wild animal trainer thing seemed to be a little scary for me, but the clown, Lou Jacobs — that seemed to be something I could do. Always in the back of my mind, I had the experience of the circus — the childhood memories. I learned how to juggle and got asked to perform at senior citizens places and the church. In high school, there was a beauty pageant and I was the entertainment for it. It was great. After I did that — I was a little shy — people would talk to me. I thought, ‘Man, this is kind of cool.’ This is a great way to come out of my shell and meet people, so I can entertain people. I’d always been interested in that — always had it in my mind. Freshman year, I was in the freshman cabaret. At that time, the freshmen got together and wrote a show for the parents. We did that and it was a great thing. I had the performing bug, and I met Sue Merchant and I just held onto that application until I graduated. That’s one of those lessons about life — you never know when lightning is going to strike and what’s going to be important to you. What was your favorite thing about being in the circus? SL: So many different things. Oh boy. We were talking about South Africa and the divestment thing. We went through all that and all the upheaval and everyone screaming at College. Clown college had a 10-week audition. We were not guaranteed a job. Five thousand
people apply, 50 get in and only 11 or 12 of us got a job — a contract offer from the circus. I got a job offer for the Blue unit, [one of the circus tour groups]. One of the headlining acts was the Zulu dancers and acrobats from South Africa. You know, coming off the Dartmouth campus, where we had all this talking about South Africa and all that kind of stuff, and suddenly I got onto the circus and my coworkers are these guys from South Africa. ... That first year that I was there, we actually had two acts, Miguel Vazquez and the Caballeros — something brand new. During that year, it was the only time in circus history where you had two acts both doing the quad somersault. Ringling, at that time, would have two trapeze acts [touring] simultaneously. Both acts were attempting the quad somersault. There were several times they both would catch it. Miguel would catch it 90 percent of the time, the [Caballeros] 20 percent of the time. You can’t imagine what that was like. Both of those acts attempting the quad somersault and a handful of times both of them caught it. It was like the greatest thing in the world. We had those guys, the high wire act — the greatest high wire act in the world. It was just incredible. It was like living inside the encyclopedia. You had living people from everywhere in the world, all just hanging out together. Living on the train might have been the coolest thing about living on the circus. It’s difficult to narrow it down to one thing. Living on the train, it was like the United Nations if the United Nations had to put on a show. It was just wonderful. It was really great.
“The Black Sea” flounders despite its best attempts B y andrew kingsley The Dartmouth Staff
Sequester a group of actors in a small space, point your camera at them and wait an hour. By then, each of them will surely have gone insane. It’s the theory behind Sartre’s “No Exit” (1944) of being locked together in a room for eternity. Claustrophobia is a truly cinematic fear. It requires no sets and no props — it is just the actor’s psyche slowly consuming itself. “The Shining” (1980) should come to mind. Even viewers cramped into small theater seats can relate to its stifling intensity. “The Black Sea” (2014) stuffs 12 men into a dilapidated submarine searching for gold and watches the pot boil. Beyond a couple flare-ups, though, the film can only manage a simmer. Jude Law stars as Robinson , the irascible captain of a motley dozen,
the crew half-Russian and halfEnglish, who race to find a sunken Nazi treasure worth millions at the bottom of the Black Sea. Like a Cold War microcosm, the crew quickly divides themselves along country lines, which breeches the hulls of their sanity and drowns them in paranoia. Like socialists, they agree to divide the sum evenly, so there is incentive to “dump the ballast” men. What follows is somewhere between “The Hunger Games”(2012) and “Titanic”(1997). Murphy’s Law holds court here, as the submarine snowballs toward self-destruction with Rube Goldberg-esque sequences of small human follies adding up to cataclysmic deaths. Stabbings, drownings and explosions soon turn the ship into a rusted, floating tomb. This domino effect, however, plays out more as the inevitabilities of a director pulling his puppets to the
sea floor, tallying his body count. As in “Final Destination” (2000), death loses its shock factor. Rather, we are always waiting at the door, looking down at our watches for its arrival. It is never a matter of who will die, but when and how. Lacking psychotic ferocity, the gravity of true fear sucking men into a mental abyss is never felt. A bunch of Hamlets and Prufrocks, the crew whirlpools in self-doubt, craving revenge but too cowardly to follow through. Their decisions and revisions slow the tempo to a couple knots at times, floundering in impotence. Only Fraser, a wizened diver, has the cruel engines to drive a knife through a comrade’s heart. Robinson gives too many humanist speeches about not stooping to the level of the bankers that put them in this mess. It’s like attending a gladiator contest where the fighters shake hands to spite their slaveholders,
until one man, whipped and scorned beyond repair, initiates a bloodbath out of fury. “The Black Sea” becomes more of a spy thriller than action-packed adrenaline pumper, with two moles slowly ravaging both Russian and English crews alike. Luckily, Robinson is monomaniacal enough to keep the film buoyant, like Ahab drawing his crew to annihilation for his own personal vendettas. Fueled by the loss of his previous submarine job, Robinson uses this expedition as revenge on his former employers. He is also handed a trite failedfather subplot and uses a young crewmember as a son surrogate. Yet the numbing optimism of greed that gilds treachery and outweighs sanity consumes Robinson, transforming him into a Robinson Crusoe-type, victimized by his own psychological cannibalism. This film could easily be retitled “There Will Be Blood 2:
Underwater Gold,” as the vestiges of Robinson’s humanity are submerged by psychotic avarice, just as Daniel Plainview’s were by his pursuit for black gold. The ending comes as no surprise, as if all submarines by their own ontology in cinema must end on the sea floor. They are built to sink, and sink they shall. Ultimately, the film seems like a tepid revitalization of the submarine thriller genre such as “Hunt for Red October” (1990) and “Das Boot” (1981) with crisper images and more explosive action. Despite this, it only breaks the surface of the intensity of claustrophobic thrillers like “Alien” (1979) or “Panic Room” (2002), itself hiding from the potency of decisive filmmaking. Rating: 6/10 “The Black Sea” played at the Hop Saturday night at 7 p.m.
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
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ARTS
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
“The Hunting Ground” discusses sexual assault at colleges
B y ANNIE SMITH
The Dartmouth Staff
“I think that we are honor bound to play this film,” manager of the Hopkins Center’s film program Sydney Stowe, said. “The minute we heard the film was out and released we went for it.” Stowe is referring to “The Hunting Ground” (2015), a new documentary by director Kirby Dick, which was screened at the Hopkins Center for the Arts this past Saturday night in a mostly packed Spaulding Auditorium. “The Hunting Ground” — which is composed of various interviews with students, administrators and sexual assault experts — follows the story of Annie Clark and Andrea Pino, two women who have been at the heart of the recent movement against sexual assault on college campuses. Clark and Pino, who were both sexually assaulted while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , joined forces in 2013 to file a Tile IX complaint against the school. While Title IX had historically been used in the athletic setting to secure equal funding for women’s sports teams, Clark and Pino saw that the law could go further — failing to protect students from sexual violence and inadequately dealing with survivors’ needs could be considered sex-based discrimination. Title IX, which passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, protects students from sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. After their complaint, Clark and Pino began to travel to colleges and universities all across the country, informing students on how they could use Title IX to combat sexual assault and connecting activists on different campuses to help one another. Working with other activists had special meaning for both of the women. “It’s the only way I get up in the morning,” Pino said in the film. “I would have given anything to have someone who believed me — someone who supported me.” Their campaign against sexual assault caught the attention of “The Hunting Ground” director, who said that he thought that this would be an interesting story arc for a film. Dick said that the idea to explore
sexual assault on college campuses through film emerged from the response to his Academy-Award winning documentary “The Invisible War” (2012), which explored sexual assault in the military. “As we were taking this film around college campuses, during the Q and As after the screening, the
“Institutions are not going to change without pressure. That’s the reality. We know having a film screen on campus helps galvanize that activism and helps promote that pressure.” -kirby dick, director of “the hunting ground” (2015) discussion would change very quickly from rape in the military to rape on college campuses,” Dick said. Survivors of sexual assault began to contact Dick, imploring him to make a documentary exposing the widespread problem of rape on college campuses, he said. “The Hunting Ground” features interviews with students from numerous institutions, including Swarthmore College, Tufts University, Yale University and Harvard Law School. “We were following stories on dozens of campuses,” Dick said. “We were very fortunate to be able to document the rise of this student movement while it was happening.” Many students who were interviewed shared the ways in which their school’s administrators failed to support them after they were sexually assaulted. The culture of victim blaming was explored at length in the film. Administrators, faculty members and experts were also interviewed and emphasized the national scope of the problem. “This is a problem on all college campuses, and we wanted to convey that,” Dick said. “The Hunting Ground” combines personal narratives with sta-
tistics, effectively humanizing the issue while also exposing its national scope and importance. The film also includes a strong educational component. “I wanted the film to drastically alter a lot of preconceived notions about sexual assault and the way it works on college campuses,” Clark said. “I want survivors to know that they are not alone, it’s not their fault and they are believed.” Lily Morrison ’16, who interned at Picture Motion, the marketing firm that represents “The Hunting Ground,” said that she sees the film as an important medium for raising awareness among a broad audience. “Films have so much power,” Morrison said. “With ‘The Hunting Ground,’ it has united so many people across the nation who may not have cared much about the issue. When a movie comes out, it can speak volumes.” Throughout the film’s screening, audience members showed a range of reactions, from laughter when former interim College president Carol Folt was on screen to gasps when the statistic that 45 percent of colleges reported no incidents of
sexual assault in 2012. After the film, there was a panel discussion and question-and-answer session featuring Clark and Pino, as well as Mentors Against Violence education director Murylo Batista
“I think this is the right moment for the Dartmouth community to see this film and discuss it.” -barbara will, presidential steering committee chair ’15 and Dartmouth Film Society director Johanna Evans ’10. Dartmouth’s Title IX coordinator, Heather Lindkvist, moderated the panel discussion. Audience question topics ranged from how the College is treating the issue to which schools have shown the most leadership in combating sexual assault.
“Moving Dartmouth Forward” presidential steering committee chair Barbara Will said that she believes that the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” plan is a sign of Dartmouth’s progress in handling sexual assault. “It’s a definite step in the right direction,” Will said. “Something the movie made clear is that this is going to take a long time.” Will said that she was excited for the film to come to the College and encourages students to see it. “I think this is the right moment for the Dartmouth community to see this film and to discuss it,” Will said. “The Hunting Ground” is currently on tour across the country, screening at various theaters and college campuses. The film is being shown at almost 300 campuses over a two-month period, Dick said, adding that he hopes that the film will help stimulate dialogue between students, faculty, and administrators about the issue of sexual assault. “Institutions are not going to change without pressure. That’s the reality,” Dick said. “We know having a film screen on campus helps galvanize that activism and helps promote that pressure.”
SINGING IN MEMORY
COURTESY OF THE HOPKINS CENTER OF THE ARTS
The Glee Club celebrated the life of Christina Porter ’06 in their concert Friday night.