The Dartmouth 04/21/15

VOL. CLXXII NO. 64

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Cunningham’16 voted SA president, Dressel’17 VP

RAIN HIGH 59 LOW 36

By SEAN CONNOLLY The Dartmouth Senior Staff

Frank Cunningham ’16 has been elected Student Assembly president with 966 votes, and Julia Dressel ’17 has been elected vice president with 1,149 votes. This reflects 59 percent and 70 percent of voters, respectively.

Jake Gaba ’16 and Penelope Williams ’16 received 578 and 147 votes for the presidency and vice presidency, respectively. Williams ran as a write-in candidate.

Only 1,632 of 4,501 students voted this year, marking a 31 percent-decline from last year when 2,376 students voted, election planning and advising committee chair PREETI RISHI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

SPORTS

WOMEN’S RUGBY THIRD AT IVIES SEVENS PAGE 8

OPINION

WOODWARD: A SPEAKER FOR THE AGES PAGE 4

ARTS

SISALO RECEIVES FILM HONOR, TRIBUTE PAGE 7

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Student candidates chalked campaign slogans around campus over the weekend.

SEE ELECTION PAGE 5

Students attend Republican leadership summit in Nashua

B y EMILia BALDWIN The Dartmouth Staff

The College Republicans attended the “First In The Nation Republican Leadership Summit” for the first time this past weekend. The State Committee hosted the summit in Nashua, New Hampshire, and it included speeches by prominent members of the GOP, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL; Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY; Gov. Chris Christie, R-NJ and former governor of Florida Jeb Bush.

The summit is seen as a way for potential presidential candidates to meet New Hampshire republicans, donors and potential campaign supporters. Students in the group acted as volunteers at the conference.

College Republican president Michelle Knesbach ’17 said that, with 16 students in attendance, the College had the largest student group at the conference, adding that there were more students who had wanted to attend.

Knesback said that the conference was most helpful to students who are

looking to become more involved in future campaigns, adding that it was useful for students to have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the number of potential GOP candidates.

“A lot of our members are going to dedicate hundreds and hundreds of hours campaigning for Republican candidates, so it was good for them to meet who they’d be working for,” Knesback said.

The conference effectively analyzed the political climate in New Hampshire before the 2016 presidential election, she said.

Students plant permaculture gardens at Greek houses B y MICHAEL QIAN The Dartmouth Staff

When students imagine the lawns of Greek houses, they likely picture unkempt, weedy patches of grass dotted by the occasional runaway beer can. But imagine instead a permaculture garden thriving with fresh blueberries, plums, kiwis and more.

In other words, envision a possibility that Malcolm Salovaara ’17 has helped actualize by implementing self-sustaining gardens on the properties of 10 different Greek houses.

“New Hampshire is the first primary state, so it was really good to see how things are feeling for 2016,” Knesback said. She added that the summit was the largest of its kind, noting that audience members said it was the largest event in recent memory.

Summit attendee Audrey Zheng ’18, who self-identifies as a moderate independent, agreed with Knesback in saying that the event gave her insight to what the likely political situation will be in 2016.

“I’m more moderate than a lot of the SEE FIRST PAGE 2

ACTIVE MINDS THINK ALIKE

By the end of this week, eight Greek organizations will have started the process of planting, with support from Salovaara, house members and other peers on campus.

Permaculture, as Salovaara explains, involves cultivating plants that do not require annual replanting.

“There’s a lot of buzzwords, but really what it’s about is creating a system that uses the natural proclivity of living organisms — plant organisms — to accumulate value in ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

SEE PERMACULTURE PAGE 3

Active Minds holds a discussion meeting to adress issues of mental health.

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 2

DAily debriefing Dartmouth researchers Kathleen Lyons, Tor Tosteson and Zhigang Li, along with other collaborators, conducted a series of randomized clinical trials named ENABLE that measures the effect of early palliative care, Geisel News Center reports. The ENABLE trials found significant improvement in the quality of life and the survivorship rate for individuals who began treatment early.

The trials compared the measures of survival and the quality of life between different treatment strategies and concluded that palliative care provided beneficial effects.

Two hundred and seven patients who were in the late and early stages of cancer served as participants in the study.

The team of investigators also found that early interventions for caregivers decreased rates of depression and the stress burden during a patient’s last month. Additional analyses will be conducted to identify the mediating influences that led to the enhanced survival and quality of life for patients and caregivers.

A recent study by the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center suggests improved treatments for prostate cancer for men in New Hampshire, the Center reported.

The team of Dartmouth researchers studied management trends of prostate cancer records for seven consecutive years between the 2004 to 2011 period. Treatments were recorded and labeled as surgery, radiation therapy, expectant management or hormone therapy. The study reported that surgery was most frequently used for high-risk cases. Hormone therapy was found to be less common in recent years because of its side effects. Elias Hyams, a urologist and one of the study’s contributors, suggested that the increase in surgery may be due to robotic surgery that has been shown to decrease complications associated with surgical therapy.

The study also found that New Hampshire physicians have been in compliance with evidence-based guidelines that favor traditional treatments for low-risk cancer. The less aggressive treatment of low-risk cancer was supported by the study, while high-risk cancer was shown to be treated through aggressive and curative therapy.

An interdisciplinary team of investigators led by Camilo Fadul at Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center produced a study titled “Regulatory T Cells Are Not a Strong Predictor of Survival for Patients with Glioblastoma, the Center reported. Patients with glioblastoma, the most common and malignant type of brain cancer, have a higher number of T cells — which are used to control the immune system — but the effect of the proportion of T cells and correlation with prognosis have been controversial. The study examined the correlation between the T cells and rates of survival with glioblastoma patients found that there was no correlation. The findings may impact the design of future immune therapy clinical trials. The team of investigators will further their research by analyzing glioblastoma samples from another medical center.

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

Students meet Republican leaders FROM FIRST PAGE 1

members, and I wasn’t as enthusiastic about the event as some other members were,” she said, but added that the event made her consider which of the candidates will likely receive her vote in 2016.

The event was broken up into speeches with large audiences of 200 to 300 people and smaller question and answer sessions of 20 to 30, Zheng said.

“The smaller Q&A sessions were the most valuable to me, since we got to meet candidates and really hear their point of view on a smaller scale,” Zheng said.

Summit attendee Abraham Herrera ’18, a self-identified conservative, said that he found the event to be the most effective way for students to understand the views of potential candidates.

“This was definitely a paramount experience for students to get in contact with potential candidates and see what they are about.”

Herrera said that he and the other student volunteers held doors open for audience members and made sure that the event ran smoothly. In addition, the students were able to attend question and answer sessions with Paul, potential presidential candidate Carly Fiorina and Gov. Scott Walker, R-WI, Herrera said.

Matthew Durkin ’17 said that meet-

ing potential GOP candidates swayed his opinions on who he is going to support in 2016.

“I went into the process relatively undecided, but leaning towards Jeb Bush,” he said. “We got to meet a bunch of other candidates, so I really started thinking about who I’m going to vote for in 2016.”

Durkin said that he had the opportunity to ask Rubio a question about retirement reform, and he said that the small sessions were most useful.

LET THEM EAT JUSTICE

FAITH ROTICH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The sustainability and social justice dinner discussed the intersection of the two issues.

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“They weren’t one-on-one, but they were definitely an intimate setting,” he said.

Durkin said that the group was able to meet with some of the heads of the potential campaigns, something he found valuable given his goal of working on a GOP campaign in the near future.

“It’s hard since a lot of the potential candidates haven’t announced yet, but it was still cool for anyone who might want to get involved or intern for a campaign.”

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

PAGE 3

Permaculture gardens begin to take root on campus FROM PERMACULTURE PAGE 1

the system, in the soil,” he said. “And thereby, that value translates into a more productive garden and a garden that is lower maintenance.”

Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sustainability chair Emily Grotz ’16 said that many members of her house — one of the six sororities collaborating with Malcolm and his team on this project — were eager to help being planting last Friday.

Grotz said that sustainability should not be thought of as a nuisance, but rather as a more eco-friendly alternative.

Permaculture gardens characterize this idea, she said, adding that working on the project was also a fun opportunity for sisterhood bonding.

Salovaara said the three largest gardens, found at Kappa, Alpha Phi and Alpha Xi Delta sororities, have over 15 woody plants, trees, shrubs and vines.

These perennials will produce fruits, including persimmons, raspberries, strawberries and Asian pears.

He said that while these gardens will certainly not yield enough food to feed a house, they could change the way in which people look at the landscape and food around them. Moreover, he said a lot of the gardens were designed with the aim of creating something aesthetically beautiful in mind.

Jonah Sternthal ’18, one of Salovaara’s collaborators, became interested in permaculture after spending time at the Dartmouth Organic Farm and hearing a presentation about this project.

“Permaculture is a lot about observing and experimentation,” Sternthal said. “It’s also cool to put time and effort into sustenance, and then being able to reap the benefits afterward, and doing so with as little impact on the environment as possible.”

This Wednesday, Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity members will be planting three plum trees, former houseman John Conley ’15 said.

“We wanted to collaborate with [Salovaara] because his permaculture project seemed like a great way to build community and bring some fresh fruits and vegetables to our house,” Conley said. “We already have a group of brothers who cook dinner every week, and it’d be exciting to see them use produce grown on our lawn.”

Salovaara said that, with coordination between Greek house sustainability chairs and students interested in working on this project, these gardens would only require occasional attention and little maintenance.

Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity member Dave Klinges ’17 said he and several other members were immediately interested after hearing about Salovaara’s idea for a sustainable garden. The fraternity is scheduled to plant nine trees tomorrow, and will plant more in the coming week.

“Not speaking solely for Sig Ep, but maybe overall, I think this is a move-

ment that the Greek system could really embrace and has not done so to the extent that [it] could,” Klinges said. “This should be something that has practically universal involvement in the houses because there’s really no downsides to it, other than the logistics involved.”

Conley and Grotz said people in their respective houses have all responded positively to the garden planting idea.

Kappa Delta sorority sustainability chair Maddie Koehler ’17 said planting at KD is not yet underway, but that it will likely happen in the next two to three weeks.

“For me personally, it’s something that I would be interested in pursuing because our house is new and we don’t have a ton of landscaping, so it’s just like a cool project,” she said.

In the future, Salovaara said this permaculture project could expand to more Greek houses, off campus houses and houses in the Upper Valley. Furthermore, these efforts could potentially be incorporated into new Moving Dartmouth Forward housing communities, he said.

Salovaara, who first learned about permaculture in high school, said his idea is also about engaging people and “inspiring a living laboratory” idea — one that he believes administrators would want to promote.

He said his project, financed by the Milton Sims Kramer ’54 Memorial Prize and the Revolving Green Loan Fund, operates under a total budget of about $6,000. In addition, the Dartmouth Organic Farm sponsors this initiative.

Kappa Delta Epsilon and Sigma Delta sororities, Tabard coed fraternity and Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity are also participating in this project.

COURTESY OF DARTMOUTH PERMACULTURIST UNITED

Student members of Greek organizations have been planting trees and bushes to grow gardents in their yards.

film a tribute to

oscar-nominateD filmmaker

Abderrahmane Sissako

TONIGHT 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

ENGINEERING

OPEN HOUSE + EXPOSITION

• Inventions • Projects • Lab tours • Demos • Snacks • Fun

THURSDAY

engineering.dartmouth.edu

APRIL 23 5:30–8 PM

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

PAGE 4

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

Staff Columnist AYLIN WOODWARD ’15

STAFF COLUMNIST ZIQIN YUAN ’18

A Speaker for the Ages

The Missing Dislike Button

The College should consider the impact a commencement speaker can have.

Instead of sugar-coating ourselves on social media, we should be vulnerable.

With the dusk of our undergraduate careers looming, there is a growing curiosity among members of the Class of 2015 as to who our commencement speaker will be come June 14.

Having had the privilege of attending three of the past four commencements, I’m looking forward to the reveal with great anticipation. Will it be another producer like Shonda Rhimes ’91, the genius behind shows like “Scandal” (2012) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (2005), or perhaps another social justice warrior like Geoffrey Canada, president of Harlem Children’s Zone? I imagine it’s beyond the realm of possibility that we may have the pleasure of hearing someone like Conan O’Brien, the late night television host who spoke in 2011.

Each of those aforementioned speakers’ addresses had its own message and distinct flavor of delivery. Rhimes blew the crowd away last year with her bold and witty remarks, reminding students that it’s time to pay it forward. Canada stoically challenged members of the Class of 2013 to finish the work that his generation had started. And O’Brien... well, he just did what he does best — he made everyone laugh. A lot.

Beyond the clichéd messages commencement speakers often leave with graduates on arguably one of the most important days of their lives, though, I argue that these orators can provide far greater of a service to this College than most imagine. On graduation day, people like Rhimes and O’Brien, who speak from a position of unparalleled prestige and authority that even College President Phil Hanlon cannot match, have a unique social utility — they hold the ear and attention of nearly every member of the Dartmouth community, both past and present.

With this undivided attention, speakers have the rare opportunity to unite the school with their outside message and interpretations.

As a writer, I am like a broken record on the subject of improving campus-wide communication, but I refuse to cease that vein of thought just yet. In just these first three weeks of spring term, the quality of civil campus discourse has once again plummeted to record lows. With Alpha Delta fraternity’s derecognition and the

Most people like to display their happiness and hide their sorrow. We often try to display a pristine exterior, one that looks effortlessly puttogether and always cheerful. We are, however, human. No one is a one-dimensional individual in a permanently happy state. If we all know we’re not perfect, then why do consistently feel the need to pretend as if we are?

I believe the most obvious answer is because we find our shortcomings embarrassing. Nobody wants to be seen as “that girl who cried in public because she did poorly on an exam” or “that guy who made a fool of himself last night.” Nobody wants to be talked about on Yik Yak or risk developing a reputation as someone who’s never any fun to be around. So we put on a smile and a pleasant façade, and in doing so we all deceive one another into believing everyone around us looks fine.

This impulse seems odd if you consider that many people have similar anxieties. In theory, if we can relate to one another’s difficulties, we have no reason to hide them from our peers — in fact, we can help ourselves by sharing. Vulnerability, no matter how difficult, ultimately proves more sustainable. By being vulnerable, we allow people to empathize with us, and that emotional connection is mutually beneficial to all parties. We gain the advice and respect of others, and we let other people know they’re not alone — that’s how strong communities are formed.

Hiding our flaws has severe consequences. On social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, many carefully curate their lives and showcase only the most flattering snippets. This crafted appearance makes it difficult for friends and loved ones to be aware of our true feelings — and even more difficult to help us deal with them. Many suicides on college campuses follow a similar, and sadly preventable pattern — students who seem happy on the outside often share only positive parts of their lives to create an image of wellness, hiding their troubles inside. A University of Pennsylvania runner’s suicide last year shocked her friends because they weren’t aware of her struggles with striving for perfection — she only shared her most positive moments. A 2015 University of Missouri

hard alcohol ban in full swing, campus climate appears reminiscent of an Orwellian dystopia.

We seem to have returned to an environment of passive-aggressive hostility and resentment, and it cannot endure.

If we won’t talk about — or perhaps worse, feel as though we can’t talk about — the things that matter to us on this campus — the evolution of our social character, the heartbreaks, the injustices, the skeletons we have in out closets — how can we grow as a community? How can we, the graduating class of seniors, pave the way for a renewal of open dialogue at the College if our path to such dialogue is blocked by overt hostilities and disintegrating channels of student-administrator respect?

My answer to such rhetorical questions is perhaps a sly one. If delivered well, this year’s commencement speech represents a potential catalyst for a much-needed, frank conversation about just what’s been happening on campus as of late — and how such issues can be discussed maturely. If the College has the ability to procure a speaker of merit, with a proven ability to talk about contentious topics affably and open-mindedly, then they need to do so.

I know that a very large chunk of our class nominated comedians, including Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart or John Oliver, to be our speaker.

The College may be disinclined to choose “yet another entertainer,” and I wouldn’t be surprised if such intolerant stipulations affect who takes the stage this June. But I would strongly caution against that.

Forget about the need for variation or the intellectual stigma of having an entertainer deliver the commencement address of an Ivy League institution. Dartmouth needs a little bit of good-natured humor right now — a little of bit charisma and panache to enliven a campus drowning in cynics, pessimists and protestors.

Maybe someone like Colbert can air out all of our dirty laundry by poking fun at the bad blood that’s been festering here, and, in a way, put our collective hostility to rest by reminding us how to laugh at ourselves and — most importantly — keep it all in perspective.

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study found that when use of Facebook elicits envy — such as browsing posts that highlight friends’ achievements — users are more likely to experience symptoms of depression. By showing such carefully edited versions of our lives, we all accept perfection as the norm and create a society where any weakness feels like failure.

Illusions of perfection can never last. If everyone admits that they’re not perfect, however, we have the chance to help each other through our imperfections. In her TED talk “The Power of Vulnerability,” Brené Brown noted that the people with the strongest feelings of self worth and the people who were the most loved in their communities were also those who felt vulnerable.

Vulnerability allowed them to trust others and learned that their problems are not the exception but the rule. In showing weakness, they actually gained power and strength.

Vulnerability isn’t easy. Revealing the more negative or sensitive aspects of ourselves is a challenging exercise in trust and courage. If we chose to be slightly more vulnerable, however, we may come to the inspiring conclusion that we’re not alone. Many of us feel anxious or nervous when talking to someone new — we don’t know if they’ll like us or if they even want to talk to us.

Yet, as many will likely attest, most people are just waiting for you to talk to them first — just taking the initial step and making yourself vulnerable will encourage others to reciprocate.

Of course, we shouldn’t necessarily expose everything our deepest secrets to the public. Even baby steps — letting your bare face show without makeup, for example, or admitting that you don’t always know the answer — are enough to allow others to reach out and empathize. If nothing else, these small changes in our behavior can remind others that we aren’t perfect, and that we shouldn’t expect ourselves to be perfect.

We need to be less afraid of being vulnerable.

When we show a side of ourselves that — though potentially less flattering — is more sincere and genuine, we abandon the fake standard of perfection that we pretend to have. It’s worth making an effort to let ourselves be known for who we truly are.

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

PAGE 5

Student Assembly election experiences low voter turnout FROM ELECTION PAGE 1

Derek Whang ’17 said. This year’s turnout is the lowest in the past three years, with only 36.2 percent of the eligible students casting a ballot. In 2013, 1,845 students voted.

Danny Reitsch ’16 and Brad Plunkett ’16 were elected 2016 Class Council president and vice president with 339 and 272 votes, respectively, and Elisabeth Schricker ’17 and Andrew Goldfarb ’17 were elected 2017 Class Council president and vice president with 227 and 32 votes, respectively.

Aaron Cheese ’18, Harrison Perkins ’18 and Toryima Asom ’18 were elected to serve on the 2018 Class Council with 296, 209 and 192 votes, respectively.

In previous years, the sophomore council has had five representatives of different ranks, but the Class of 2018 voted to have three representatives of equal power, Whang said.

In order of the greatest to least

number of votes received, Shagun Herur ’16, Jose Rodarte-Canales ’16, Tori Nevel ’16, Rui Zhang ’16, Eliza Ezrapour ’18, Alex Liao ’16, Oliver Edelson ’18 and Jack Sullivan ’18 were elected to the Committee on Standards and the Organizational Adjudication Committee. Ezrapour, Liao, Edelson and Sullivan were all write-in candidates.

Cunningham, who has served as the Student Assembly vice president for the past year, said he is looking forward to getting back to work. “[Dressel] and I have come up with an awesome platform I think and I’m looking forward to getting back to that office,” he said.

Cunningham added that he is excited for the opportunity, as he is sure that, along with Dressel, the two will be able to make changes during their time in their roles.

Dressel said that she wants to begin working as soon as possible and figure out what components of their platform can be accomplished

immediately.

Cunningham also shared how he felt when he received the news of his victory.

“By far, it was one of the greatest experiences ever and it’s going to be one of my best moments at Dartmouth by far,” he said.

Gaba wrote in an email that he is disappointed by the results, but he

wishes Cunningham and Dressel the best. He added that he was surpised by the large drop in voter turnout, but attributed this to “campus’s current skepticism of Student Assembly.”

Williams wrote in an email that she is happy to have had the experience of running and is looking forward to seeing what Cunningham and Dressel will be able to accomplish

together as a team. She added that she is glad that election did not go uncontested, despite her loss.

In terms of the number of votes she received, Williams wrote she was not surprised by the relatively low percentage she garndered compared to Dressel, both because she was a write-in candidate and because “Julia is a great candidate.”

PREETI RISHI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Gaba ‘16 and Williams ‘16 chalked their campaign message on the area in front of the Hopkins Center.

B RITTNEY C OOPER P RESENTSF:

“THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE: LANGUAGE POLICING AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS” WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22ND | 5:00 PM | FILENE AUDITORIUM

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~grid

PAGE 6

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

DARTMOUTH EVENTS TODAY 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

TOMORROW 4:00 p.m.

“Global Health Day” keynote address with Keith Martin, former Member of Parliament of Canada, Haldeman 41

4:30 p.m.

“Falling Into the Fire,” lecture with Christine Montross of Brown University, Rockefeller Center, Room 003

4:30 p.m.

Special biology seminar with John Fryxell of the University of Guelph, Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center, Room 201

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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

Film society honors filmmaker Sissako

B y haley gordon The Dartmouth Staff

The Dartmouth Film Society will present North African AcademyAward nominated filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako with a Dartmouth Film Award today and, in tribute, screen a showing of his newest movie “Timbuktu” (2014). The film tells the story of a family whose lives are disrupted by the appearance of militant Islamists.

African and African American studies and comparative literature professor Ayo Coly will lead a postfilm discussion with Sissako.

Sissako is the creator of films like Waiting for Happiness (2002) and Bamako (2006). His latest film, Timbuktu, won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the François Chalais Award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign language film.

Director of the Dartmouth Film Society Johanna Evans ’10 said that Coly was responsible for bringing Sissako to campus.

“We’ve played his other works before,” Evans said. “We were actually contacted about this film in particular by [Coly] in the AAAS department.

When she contacted us and said that she knew a way to get Sissako here, we just couldn’t believe our luck.”

After other departments and centers at the College expressed interest, the tribute was expanded to include class visits and events attended by Sissako.

“Everyone was just so enthusiastic,” Evans said. “It made planning the visit much easier.”

Coly said she had the idea to ask Sissako to visit campus when she learned that he would be in United States for a three-week tour.

Hopkins Center publicity coordinator Rebecca Bailey said that Sissako was a particularly strong candidate for the tribute because of his distinct voice.

“We really love being able to present not just a film, but the artist who made it, especially when they’re an artist who is really having an impact on the art form and the way people see a very important topic in the world.”

Bailey said.

Coly said she first came into contact with Sissako’s work in 2003, when “Waiting for Happiness” won the grand prize at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou.

“This is the most important festival of African film in the world, so it’s really a huge deal to win a prize there.”

Coly said.

Coly said that she followed Sissako’s work as he progressed, admiring his talent for creating visually dynamic

films.

“For me, it’s his aesthetics,” she said. “It’s in terms of visually ­— I would describe him as a visual poet.

He has a way of shooting the landscape, he has a way of framing the bodies that he’s filming that is just captivating. His ability to find or show beauty in those moments, moments of despair and tragedy… I think it captivated me.”

Coly said Sissako’s films present a valuable alternative to the “dominant, western narrative of Africa.”

“I think it’s important that he’s able to show a more complex and more nuanced version of Africa,” Coly said.

Coly said that she felt that “Timbuktu” did not have a targeted audience, but rather could appeal to a more universal group of viewers.

“I think it’s a global approach, sharing this story with as many people as possible, because we are all concerned,” Coly said. “You don’t have to be in Mali or from Mali to be concerned by what is going on there, by the ways in which some Islamic groups are taking whole populations hostage. It really concerns us all… both Muslims and non-Muslims.”

Coly said that besides presenting another image of Africa, Sissako presents another image of Islam that differs from the often-demonizing portrayal that many Western media organizations can project.

Bailey also said that the topics dealt with, such as religion, terrorism, oppression and the loss of independence, made the film more powerful.

“A film lets you know something through the human dimension,” she said. “It lets you see everyone in it as a human being and that kind of understanding helps you maybe make better decisions. It’s so important to have that dimension of understanding as well as the news, the facts, the figures.”

Coly said that despite the darker subject matter, the film has an element of optimism.

“The people really rise, really fight back,” Coly said. “There is a hope in the resistance of the people.”

She said that she thought students should see the film because it deals with timely and pressing issues.

Bailey said that in addition to seeing the film, students who go to the tribute will have the opportunity to meet local film buffs.

“They show up in great numbers to these events,” she said. “I think it’s interesting for students because they’re sitting right next to people who might be four decades older than them but are just as gripped by great film as they are.”

The tribute will take place Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Loew Auditorium.

Tickets will be between five and eight dollars for students.

PAGE 7

Beyond the Bubble: Are Selfies Art?

B y ANDREA NEASE The Dartmouth Staff

Considering the selfie to be photography may seem laughable, but perhaps it is a logical extension of self-portraiture in the digital age. Is the millennial generation, as many have argued, self-absorbed, or are youths these days following the tradition of showing themselves through images?

In 2013, Oxford Dictionaries editors named “selfie” the “word of the year” and added it to the dictionary with the definition, “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.”

With this in mind, could a selfie, then, be called a self-portrait? Despite the historical treatment of portraiture as a respected creative form, your selfie is probably not art. Selfies, rather, have taken on a life of their own and, in the process, have blurred the public’s perception of what qualifies as art.

Esquire’s Stephen Marche said it best: “We still think of photographs as if they require effort, as if they were conscious works of creation. That’s no longer true...Now it’s just life. It is just part of the day... The selfie is the masturbation of self-image.”

But wait. Does this imply that all selfies are nothing more than masturbatory products of photography? I don’t neces-

sarily think it does. I believe instead that a selfie can be art when the intention is there. Intention, though, also depends on the selfie’s subject. Miley? She’s taking a selfie for self-aggrandizement and for her fans’ attention or adoration.

If you look elsewhere, however, like Rainer Schillings’ book “Leica Myself,” you’ll be more than surprised to find impressive, artfully rendered selfies.

Regrettably, tasteful selfies supported by artistic intent are rare in comparison to the plethora of tacky mirror selfies that fill a single scroll through Instagram.

I do not think the selfie should be recognized as an emergent form of art in and of itself, but rather it should be recognized as a significant development of the modern era. Smartphones, webcams, applications, operating systems — they have all modified themselves in the interest of perpetuating the selfie.

The selfie is documentation, it is communication, it is self-representation — but not inherently art. Its value lies within its ability to capture any and every moment of our lives with convenience, and its power lies within the mass use of social media as a communicative tool for constructing one’s identity.

An article published by the Pacific Standard notes, “just as the affordability of mirrors drove the rise of self-portraits in Renaissance art, reversible cameras have made every smartphone owner into a Cindy Sherman or Nan Goldin.”

Here’s where selfies connect back to the theory of their evolutionary relationship with historic self-portraiture — the selfie is not an artistic evolution of commissioned portrait paintings, it is a personal evolution of these portrait paintings.

We have not developed selfies as a new artistic form — we have developed selfies as the newest and easiest way to construct the world’s impression of us.

Kings and queens paid skilled painters hefty sums in hopes of achieving a flattering portrait which would then serve as their filtered self-representation.

It is not a result of growing narcissism that selfies have gained so much popularity, but rather the popular use of the selfie is a result of the psychological desire to be seen. The feeling is not new to humans, but the technology that eases the fulfillment of these desires is.

Attachable filters for your iPhone, the selfie stick, high-resolution web cameras — they all work to enhance self-documentation. Without this technology, selfies might as well refer to painted self-portraits using a mirror.

Maybe there is hope yet for the selfie.

Maybe, just as photography developed over time, selfies will develop as well.

The selfie may not be traditional art due to the loss of conscious process and intent that traditional self-portraiture boasts, but the selfie does have a place in our lives past its presence in social media.

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

Visit http://envs.dartmouth.edu/ or call 603‐646‐2838 for more info

Free and Open to the Public

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS

PAGE 8

SPORTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015

TUESDAY LINEUP

MEN’S LACROSSE VS. UMASS LOWELL 2 PM

Women’s rugby places third in Ivy Sevens Championship B y kourtney kawano The Dartmouth Staff

After a long day of fast-paced, physical matches, the women’s rugby team — the Ivy League Sevens defending champions — placed third on the A- and B-side teams at the seventh annual Rickerson Cup and Women’s Ivy Rugby Sevens Championship held last Saturday at Princeton University’s Rickerson Field.

The B-team started off the day for the Big Green in a match against Brown University. The Bears scored three tries and a kick, winning their first game 17-0.

To begin its play, the women’s Ateam took to the field to challenge Yale University and defeated the Bulldogs, 24-0. Forwards captain Yejadai Dunn ’16 and backs captain Kerry Conlin ’16 said both sides started the game off slow due to a period of adjustment to the warmer weather.

“We still came out strong against Yale and put up scores,” Dunn said.

“But we talked about what we needed to do to execute our offense and defense, especially since the games are only 14 minutes long.”

Conlin agreed and said the A-team’s defense was not as strong during the first game, but the team improved from its second game on.

The A-side squad had a different

set of players on the field than in past games because of the number of injuries among the team as it headed into the tournament.

“A fair amount of key players had gotten injured,” Dunn said. “We were a little in flux about the roster, but the subs were really effective when they came in.”

An hour later, the B-team challenged Cornell University and controlled nearly the entirety of the game, winning by a score of 26-0.

“The second side played hard and finished strong,” Allison Brouckman ’15 said. “They show so much promise, especially considering that they are going to be the team competing for the A-side in four years.”

After defeating the Bulldogs, the A-team faced Harvard University. The women built upon the momentum from their first match and defeated the Crimson, 24-14.

“The game against Harvard was a tougher match, but we organized ourselves better and were playing more aggressively at that point.” Conlin said.

The B-team rounded out the day’s regular pool play with a match against Princeton. Much of the contest showed a relatively even game between the teams, as neither could reach the high scores seen in previous matches. The Big Green allowed the Tigers to score

only one try during the match, but the team was unable to score one of its own and ended the game with a 5-0 loss.

After claiming the top spot in its pool, the A-side was pitted against Brown, the defending Ivy League champion in 15s, for the semifinal round.

Despite the full-contact nature of the sport, the women were not accustomed to the aggressiveness of the opponent or the lack of calling by the referees. Dunn and Conlin said the team had to play through tackle assists and hands in the ruck as well as playing on the ground.

“It was a dog fight,” Dunn said.

“We worked against a lot of elements and had to fight against a lot of tough contact.”

Conlin said the referee did not call many penalties on either side, but said that she is used to having their games policed more strongly.

Because of this, the Bears were able to score early in the match to bring the score to 14-0. Despite the early disadvantage, the Big Green’s defense adapted to Brown’s physicality and prevented another conversion for the remainder of the game. The adjustment in the team’s defense could not save the match, however, as the women failed to score a point, resulting in the Bears’ advancement into the championship game against Princeton. “[Brown] never holds back, so we

Courtesy of Allison Brouckman

The Big Green followed up last year’s Ivy title with a third-place finish this year.

had to match that,” Conlin said. “By the second half, we really held them off and our defense was really strong, and it was good to see that even though we lost.”

After dropping the contest against the Bears, Dartmouth’s A-team challenged Harvard, the losing team from the semifinal match on the other side of the bracket, to determine who would take third place in the day’s tournament.

The team fought against exhaustion and managed to defeat the Crimson again to win the third-place bowl final, 17-0.

“It was a solid match,” Conlin said.

“We were still amped up from Brown, so we were ready to play a hard match and win.”

Last year, Dunn said, the Big Green bypassed Brown heading into the championship round and defeated Princeton for the 2014 title. In this year’s tournament, the team never faced Princeton, who went on the claim this year’s Ivy Sevens Championship title after beating the Bears, 22-15.

Brouckman said she was impressed by the amount of teamwork and dedication the team showed on the field despite being unable to hold on to last year’s first-place finish.

“Even though this was the last Ivy League tournament we’re in, it’s not the end of the season,” Brouckman said.

“I’m looking forward to this coming weekend and what follows.”

Distance runners excel at Mt. SAC Relays in California

B y Chris shim

The Dartmouth Staff

The men’s and women’s track and field teams split up last weekend to face some of the best athletes in the country at the Mt. SAC Relays — hosted by Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California — and at the Larry Ellis Invitational hosted by Princeton University. Both teams received stellar performances by their long distance and field athletes.

A small contingent of athletes traveled to southern California to compete in the Mt. SAC Relays — which assembles some of the best collegiate, professional and high school track athletes in the country — to face top competition and to chase fast times in the California warmth. Both men’s and women’s teams sent athletes to compete in the 5,000-meter races and the women’s team also sent representatives to the 1,500- and 10,000-meter races.

“We had been planning this trip for months,” men’s head coach Barry

Harwick said. “I met with [women’s cross country head coach Courtney] Jaworski, and we picked the top eight distance runners who we thought had the best chance of qualifying for [NCAA Regionals.]”

The athletes traveled to California with the goal of running personal bests in favorable conditions and qualifying for the NCAA East Regional, to be held in Jacksonville, Florida, at the end of May, Harwick said. The qualifying process for the NCAA National Championships begins by having one of the 48 fastest times in a given event, which qualifies an athlete to compete at either the east or west regional depending on the location of their college. To qualify for the national championship, an athlete must place in the top 12 in their event at their regional meet.

Highlighting the performances at Mt. SAC was an individual victory in the women’s 10,000-meter open run

by Claudia Pham ’15. Pham, who completed the distance in 34:40.55, finished with a 28-second lead over the

second-place finisher, Megan Glamann of Central Missouri University.

On top of the impressive finish, Pham said her performance was even more exciting because her friends and family were there to watch.

“I’m from southern California, so this was really the one time in my college career that any of my friends from home and my family could watch me race track,” Pham said. “It meant a lot to have them there and have their support.”

For Pham, Mt. San Antonio College is also a special place to run.

“In high school, I had raced a lot at this track and on Mt. SAC’s cross country course,” Pham said. “It was awesome to be back there and experience it again.”

Dana Giordano ’16 finished 16th in the invitational section of the 5,000 meter in 15:54.05. In the open section, Reid Watson ’16 claimed sixth with a 16:17.01. Elizabeth Markowitz ’16 finished 11th in the 1,500 meter in 4:25.38.

“I had a great start to the race, but had a difficult last mile,” Giordano said.

“I wish that I had run the race more evenly because I went out very quickly.”

In the men’s open section of the 5,000 meter, Curtis King ’16 finished 11th in 14:07.26. In the C division, Brian Masterson ’16 finished fifth in the 5,000 meter in 14:19.98, while in the B division of the men’s 5,000 meter, Joey Chapin ’16 and Nat Adams ’17 finished 10th and 21st, respectively.

“I had a hard time getting my heart in the race when I was racing unfamiliar competition out west,” King said. “The good news is that, based on past results, I can walk away with a regional qualifier and a [personal record] knowing that I can do much better.”

Harwick said that after this weekend, he thinks that Pham, Giordano and Watson will likely qualify for regional competition on the women’s side, with Markowitz on the cusp of qualifying.

On the men’s side, he thinks King will qualify in the 5,000- and 10,000- meter races, Masterson will qualify in the

10,000 and Chapin is on the cusp in the 5,000.

The team relished the opportunity to travel to California and spend some time bonding.

“During indoor, the girls and guys usually race on separate days down in Boston, so we never get to see them compete or hang out with them away from school,” King said. “A transnational trip like this one gave us a lot of time to have some fun.”

The team will have another busy schedule this coming weekend, with some of the team traveling to Philadelphia to compete at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Relays from Thursday to Saturday. Other athletes will be traveling to Amherst, Massachusetts, to compete in the University of Massachusetts Invitational on Saturday.

The Penn Relays is among the most decorated track events in the sport and attracts some of the world’s best athletes. The Big Green has been attending the Penn Relays since its first iteration nearly 130 years ago, Harwick said.