VOL. CLXXIII NO.133
SHOWERS HIGH 63 LOW 51
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
CHaD Hero raises $775,000
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Kuster ’78 urges students to vote
By EMMA DEMERS The Dartmouth
ARTS
SPOTLIGHT: ROSSINA NAIDOO ‘18 PAGE 8
OPINION
FISBEIN: TRUMP’S SILENT SUPPORTERS PAGE 7
OPINION
PEREZ: HALF-BAKED HOUSING PAGE 7
OPINION
QU: ALONE IN A CROWDED ROOM PAGE 6 FOLLOW US ON
INSTAGRAM @thedartmouth FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2016 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.
KATE HERRINGTON/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Runners dressed as heros cross the finish line at the CHaD fundraiser this weekend.
By SUNPREET SINGH The Dartmouth
This year’s Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hero fundraiser, held this past Sunday, had over 2,700 participants and raised over $775,000 and counting for patients at the CHaD, an increase from the $700,000 raised last year. The fundraiser consisted of four events: a half marathon, 5K run and walk, 15 mile bike ride and a special one mile Cam Course fun run. The Cam Course is named after CHaD patient Cameron Marshall, who was diagnosed
with leukemia in elementary school. Now a Hanover High school student, Marshall helped give back to the CHaD community by running the half marathon. President Phil Hanlon was also present to kick off the Cam Course along with Dartmouth athletics staff and athletes, who gave the kids high-fives as they started and finished the race. Over 300 volunteers came from Dartmouth athletic teams, fraternities and sororities to help with the event. Positive Tracks, a Hanoverbased non-profit organization, was the sponsor of this year’s fundraiser, donating an
amount matching the funds raised by all youth participants 23 years old or younger. In addition, many local Upper Valley companies donated food such as pasta, bread and even crepes for the participants. “It is an incredible feeling to see all the kids giving back given the situations they have grown in and all of the support from the Dartmouth community for the event,” CHaD event coordinator Andrea M. Denhart said. All of the donations go directly to the patients and family support services at CHaD.
Senior class gift participation rates decline over past years
By MIKA JEHOON LEE The Dartmouth
The Class of 2016’s participation in the senior class gift had the lowest turnout since 2004. At the end of every year, members of the graduating class can donate to the senior class gift, which is a grassroots campaign that
contributes to financial aid for incoming students. Every $1,000 the senior class raises goes to one incoming firstyear student’s financial aid package. There has been a trend of declining contribution since 2010. Six years ago, 99.9 percent of the graduating class
Student voices in the upcoming election are more important than ever, Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster ’78 said yesterday at a question and answer forum hosted by the College Democrats. Speaking to a small group of students at the Rockefeller Center, Kuster, a two-term incumbent in the House, stressed the importance of students going out to vote not only for the next president, but also down the ballot. According to Kuster, the results of the New Hampshire Senate election – a race between Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Gov. Maggie Hassan – will decide which party ultimately controls the Senate. “New Hampshire has an outsized influence because of the electoral college,” Kuster said, adding that the Hassan-Ayotte Senate race will be the closest in the country. According to Kuster, the outcome of the Senate race will also decide the fate of Planned Parenthood, which Ayotte is in favor of defunding, as well as the next three Supreme Court Justice appointments. New Hampshire’s elections tend to have tight margins, partially because the swing state hosts the first presidential primary, Kuster said. For this reason, college stu-
dents can have a real influence on election outcomes. Kuster cited the 2008 presidential election, in which 3,000 students voted for President Barack Obama, as evidence that students in residence in New Hampshire should choose to vote there. An environmental policy major and the daughter of two New Hampshire politicians, Kuster is not a stranger to contentious politics. Her seat in the House is one of a dozen swing seats, she noted, adding that if she is reelected in November, she will be the first Democrat from her district to be elected to three terms in the House from her district. Kuster’s Republican challenger is former State Representative Jim Lawrence. “We’re in a good position, but we need voters to vote all the way down the ticket,” Kuster said. Kuster emphasized that the results of this fall’s election will have a direct effect on students’ lives, particularly issues surrounding women’s rights and college debt. “It’s critically important that Dartmouth students get out to vote,” she said in an interview with The Dartmouth following the forum. “Their future in terms of job prospects, quality of life, international trade, the Supreme Court – all of these issues that will impact their future will be decided on Nov. 8.”
PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
contributed to Dartmouth’s senior class gift. Last June, that number fell to 31.3 percent. After a 13 percent participation rate in 2004, the senior class gift campaign steadily generated higher turnouts. This positive trend culmiSEE GIFT PAGE 3
HOLLYE SWINEHART/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Students in One Wheelock get ready to watch the debate.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
PAGE 2
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
DAILY DEBRIEFING
Greek membership slightly down
Boloco, the Boston-based burrito chain restaurant founded by Tuck School of Business alum John Pepper, has sold five of its locations in the region to B.Good, another restaurant chain. Locations affected by the change include Boloco restaurants in Burlington, Vermont as well as Concord, New Hampshire, Eater Boston reports. The Hanover location will remain open. Boloco currently has 21 locations, most of them in Massachusetts.
The Dartmouth
Apple picking season was short this year, the Vermont Digger reports. Since 2010, apple crops have run on a biennial system, with overproduction one year leading to a shortage in the subsequent year. The U.S. Apple Association estimated a 14 percent decrease in Vermont apple production this year compare to last year. The Valley News reported that the city of Claremont, NH may be preparing to impose mandatory water restrictions due to ongoing regional drought. The Sugar River, a primary source of water is moving at its second lowest rate in 88 years, according to the Department of Public Works.
- COMPILED BY PRIYA RAMAIAH
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
By JIMMY MCCOLGAN
Changes in Greek recruitment this fall have led to questions about possible fluctuations in membership. Two Panhellenic sororities no longer participate in formal recruitment, and the derecognition of Alpha Delta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternities reduced the number of Interfraternity Council houses from 15 to 13. As of press time, 627 students have become new members of Greek houses this term, which is slightly fewer than the average of the past four falls. The count is based on the number of students who have submitted membership contracts to the Office of Greek Life. From 2012 to 2015, an average of 687 students joined Greek houses. Aside from this year, the number of students who joined Greek houses in the fall has steadily risen. In the fall of 2012, 631 students became new members of Greek houses, rising to 692 in the fall of 2013, 703 in the fall of 2014 and 722 in the fall of 2015. Office of Greek Life coordinator Ruth Kett said this fall’s count is likely to rise as newly affiliated
students submit the last of their contracts with the Office of Greek Life. Despite a perception of some inflexibility in the Greek system, there is precedent for new Greek organizations to emerge on campus. Presently, there is interest in establishing new Greek houses on campus, Office of Greek Life director Brian Joyce said. “We’ve had quite a few groups asking – maybe not formally at this point, but there have been conversations,” Joyce said. By “formally,” Joyce referred to the process outlined by the Office of Greek Life that requires approval by one of the five governing councils: the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council, the Gender-Inclusive Greek Council, the Multicultural Greek Council or the National Panhellenic Council. The College requires each Greek house to have at least four enrolled active members each term, but will make an exception if the national organization gives strong support. Dartmouth’s chapter of Señoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority, Inc. had just one member from the fall of 2012 to the spring of 2014. As for maximum size restrictions for rush classes, Joyce said that
only the Panhellenic Council puts a maximum cap on the number of new members their affiliated sororities can take. Joyce said this cap is about 40 new members a term, but it does vary year to year. Individual houses have experienced changes in membership over the past five years. Sigma Nu, for example, received two new members last fall and nine this fall as of press time. Tabard welcomed two new members in the fall of 2012, 12 new members in the fall of 2013 and 26 new members in the fall of 2014. As of press time, the Office of Greek Life reports that Tabard accepted 12 new members this fall. Sigma Nu accepted 11 new members in the fall of 2012, and three in the fall of 2014. Rush classes of other Greek houses, such as Kappa Kappa Gamma, Bones Gate and Psi Upsilon, have been stable in recent years. Instead of participating in formal Panhellenic recruitment, Sigma Delta switched to a shakeout process this fall. This switch parallels an increase in their fall new member class size. Compared to a new member class of 32 in the fall of 2015, Sigma Delt took 44 new members this fall.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
PAGE 3
Seniors encouraged to donate to gift FROM GIFT PAGE 1
nated in an almost perfect giving rate in 2010, with only one student abstaining from donating. However, the College went on to see declines in the number of donors in the senior class over the next six years. The dip in participation rate from 61 percent in 2015 to 31.3 percent in 2016 was the steepest drop it has experienced in over a decade. The Class of 2016 raised $15,887, compared to $20,143.30 raised by the Class of 2015. Former senior gift co-chair Zachary Nelson ’15 wrote in an email that members of the Class of 2015 were dissatisfied with the administration for not hearing student concerns. Nelson cited students’ disapproval of the hard alcohol ban and stricter regulations of Greek houses as reasons why some students refused to donate in 2015. In an article published in The Dartmouth in June that focused on the senior class gift participation rate of the Class of 2016, Leehi Yona ’16 expressed her discontent with the administration’s lack of action regarding fossil fuel divestment, sexual assault and faculty diversity. Bryan Thomson ’16 , in his column in The Dartmouth, also
stressed the College’s need to seek the highest senior gift participation more student input on administrative rate in the Ivy League in the 2015 decisions. fiscal year as well as the highest perAlthough the senior gift cam- centage of alumni donations among paign met heavy resistance over the all schools in the United States, asks past couple of every graduating years, senior “We really worked class for pledges gift co-chairs instead of donaon harnessing the fo u n d w ay s tions. Members to encourage ‘sentimental spirit’ of of the graduating their peers to the graduating seniors class are asked to contribute to make non-bindthe fundrais- and pushing the ing pledges to suping effort. To financial aid angle.” port annual giving boost the givover the next four ing rate, volunyears. Princeton’s teers from the -ZACHARY NELSON, senior pledge rate senior class, FORMER SENIOR GIFT COin 2016 was 91.3 with help from percent, and it has the Dartmouth CHAIR recorded a senior College Fund pledge rate of at staff, lead the least 90 percent senior class gift over the past sevcampaign. In eral years. the past, they Associate Direchave produced promotional web- tor for Special Markets at University sites, a BuzzFeed article and an of Washington Monica McDonald anthem. wrote in an email that senior class “We really worked on harnessing gifts embody an important tradition the ‘sentimental spirit’ of the gradu- of giving back to support current ating seniors and pushing the finan- students. cial aid angle,” Nelson said, “People “The collective impact of parwere generally pretty receptive after ticipation is also huge…thousands a simple, genuine conversation.” of small gifts add up to truly make Princeton University, which had a difference,” she added.
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
PAGE 4
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
“Segregation and Southern Lynching,” professor Trevon Logan, The Ohio State University, Class of 1930 Room, Rockefeller Center
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Reading by Marlon James, author of A Bried History of Seven Killings, 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction winner, Haldeman 441
7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
“The Threepenny Opera,” originally directed by Bertolt Brecht, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center
TOMORROW
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
“Computational Thinking,” Jeannette M. Wing, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Research, Spanos Auditorium, Cummings Hall
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
“Neural Mechanisms Underlying Visual Object Recognition,” professor James DiCarlo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Moore B03
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
“Morris from America” (2016), directed by Chad Hartigan, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center RELEASE DATE– Thursday, October 20, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 One of a pair in “Waiting for Godot” 4 __ ray 10 Where rds. meet 14 Frat address 15 Iris ring 16 Obama’s birthplace 17 Basic resting place 18 Personal guide 20 Start of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” 22 Common base 23 “Joke’s on you!” 24 Shoe fastener 27 Animal’s gullet 30 “To see __ is a picture”: Dickinson 31 Make subservient 33 Nincompoop 35 “Biggest Little City in the World” 37 Next Dodger after Fernando to win the Cy Young Award 38 Historic Manhattan jazz club 41 Ancient Icelandic text 42 Birthstone for some Scorpios 43 Bavarian count opener 44 Pose anew, as a question 46 Hosp. areas 47 Put away 48 Cloud above a peak 54 Hideout 56 Crude shelter 57 Thing on a string 58 Source of the Romance languages 62 Sound after a punch 63 How some games are won, briefly 64 Dawn goddess 65 Aflame 66 Cuts 67 Shows disapproval, in a way 68 Far from friendly
DOWN 1 “How to Get Away With Murder” airer 2 Actor Russell 3 Whole 4 Member of the reigning NBA champs 5 Big talker 6 Graf rival 7 See 12-Down 8 The Seine’s __ Saint-Germain 9 Use to one’s advantage 10 Tease 11 Regatta racer 12 With 7-Down, sermon site 13 (In) brief 19 Prattles 21 Gentleman, at times? 25 Sitcom that starred a singer 26 Kidney-related 28 States as fact 29 Join with heat 32 Comedian who said, “I have a lot of beliefs, and I live by none of ’em” 33 Lavatory fixture 34 Chap
35 Turn off 36 Green of “Penny Dreadful” 38 Designer Wang 39 Scene of biblical destruction 40 Spice Girl Halliwell 45 Nike competitor 46 Whole 49 Blackens 50 Jaguars, for instance
51 Garlicky spread 52 Unlikely to come unglued 53 Big name in the bags aisle 55 Fed. employees 58 Energetic spirit 59 Game with wild cards 60 Him, to Henri 61 “A Queens Story” rapper
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
ADVERTISING
xwordeditor@aol.com
10/20/16
For advertising information, please call (603) 646-2600 or email info@thedartmouth. com. The advertising deadline is noon, two days before publication. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Opinions expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of The Dartmouth, Inc. or its officers, employees and agents. The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 01999931
By Jacob Stulberg ©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/20/16
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
PAGE 6
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
STAFF COLUMNIST DOROTHY QU ’19
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST CRISTOFORO COPPOLA ’19
Alone in a Crowded Room
A New Mission
Maintaining meaningful relationships requires effort.
Business schools should not give in to online platforms.
I don’t feel lonely at 2 a.m. when I hole like a very effective way of tackling loneliness, myself up in King Arthur Flour with the musical but surrounding yourself with people does. I compositions of Dmitri Shostakovich secretly was recently speaking to a friend who is spending blasting through my earphones. Many of my his off-term working, and he divulged how he fellow crammers are unfamiliar with orchestral envied my ability to immerse myself within the music’s power to soothe angst, so no, I don’t feel Dartmouth social bubble whenever I wanted to. lonely then. Nor do I feel lonely when I embark It is true that I can easily step outside my dorm across the long, cold walk back to my dorm in and pretend that finals and formal are the only the Lodge (thank you, housing system) across a pressing issues I have to face, and it’s a luxury deathly silent campus. To be honest, my days are that I love indulging in. But it does not negate quite busy, and I get very little time to actually be loneliness. alone. I welcome the peace and quiet as I walk It is also easy to think that joining a sorority, home. as I recently have, is a cure to loneliness. Neither You may be irritated at this point. Do I even of those assumptions are true; for a long time, I know what loneliness is? Or am I just writing this hadn’t felt as lonely as I do now when I stand in introduction purely for theatrical effect? the basement of my new house, full of girls who I want to say yes on both counts. I believe that are already teammates and best friends. I think loneliness is what you feel when you’ve established to myself: they’re my sisters now, too; shouldn’t a less-than-favorable threshold of communication that automatically negate the uncertainty? But it with others: simply smiling doesn’t. at each other at the Class “For a long time, For those who know me, of 1953 Commons in I hope I do not sound like passing, quick quips across I hadn’t felt as a dead horse flogging itself the Green, snaps “for the lonely as I do now when I say that the best streak,” life updates shouted possible way to overcome over a fraternity basement’s when I stand in the loneliness is rejection. Only playlist of choice. It’s so basement of my new then are you forced to grow difficult to cross over this by yourself. It’s tough when line of empty salutations and house, full of girls you realize that, after a day into true friendship once it’s who are already of class, work, rehearsals, been made. practices and socials, the I was a trip leader this fall, teammates and best things and the people who and I have seen my trippees, friends.” made you who you were now matriculated and fully before obligations got in engaged in Dartmouth the way are also busy. And events, plenty of times from across campus as although that may be a good thing academically, it I was running late to some rehearsal or shift. is a hard change to accept, personally and socially. But I haven’t yet seen them around a rapidly But I return to my previous definition of cooling pizza from EBAs as we exchange week loneliness: failure to cross the line of mere one stories. We have collectively attributed our formalities that you have drawn between yourself lack of reunions to our diverse, incompatible and a friend. I’ve hypothesized a sad theory of a schedules. My trippees and co-leader, I have self-established, invisible wall between potential, proudly concluded, are simply too talented and past and even current connection — but I also involved. But this scenario is not limited to us: most believe that it’s never too strong to knock down. active college students, and especially Dartmouth Stop just promising to grab dinner. Start your ones, are overbooked. laundry sooner, catch up on schoolwork and While being active and hardworking is schedule a date to actually grab a meal. And clearly not enough to fend off loneliness, being even if you can’t find the time to get dinner, don’t in a social group is not enough either. That underestimate the power of having in-depth might sound contradictory to common sense: discussions with someone during the few moments surrounding yourself with work doesn’t sound we are allowed to be at peace.
The Tuck School of Business at Dart- $35,000 to $50,000, but even this is still mouth College has recently refined its significantly cheaper than the price of a mission statement. Along with the headline, traditional MBA. “Tuck educates wise leaders to better the But with the increasing accessibility world of business,” Tuck has integrated a of an MBA comes the increased risk that small paragraph explaining the meaning people are placing less value on the MBA of wisdom: experience. The traditional lure for an Wisdom encompasses the essential apti- MBA does not hold anymore, and business tudes of confident humility, about what schools must find another incentive to attract one does and does not know; empathy students. It is thus critical for deans across towards the diverse ideas and experi- the U.S. to make a better case about why ences of others; and judgment, about the brick-and-mortar experience is much when and how to take risks for the better. more valuable than an online experience Through the application of such wisdom, — valuable enough to justify the $30,000 enlightened decisions can be made to or more price difference. substantially improve Tuck seems to be trying business performance to create this justificaand the world we live in. “In 1989, only tion with its new mission The decision to expand three universities statement. It wants to upon Tuck’s mission statedistinguish itself as an offered online ment is significant. Acinstitution that can offer cording to an Oct. 15 ar- MBAs; today, 207 students more than just ticle in “The Economist,” textbook skills by definuniversities do.” more MBAs are awarded ing business wisdom not in business than in any merely as knowledge but as other discipline, with over encompassing three com189,000 diplomas given out in the 2013-14 petencies: humility, empathy and judgment. academic year. Despite this, however, signs These are skills that are difficult to learn suggest that MBAs are losing steam. In re- through a computer screen because they cent years, applications to most programs are reflections of our real-life experiences. have been decreasing or remaining static. In line with this, Matthew Slaughter, the There are many possible explanations as Dean of Tuck, has opposed the launch of to why this is happening, but I would like an online MBA program at Dartmouth.. to discuss one in particular — the rise of Some might call this decision archaic online MBA programs. or say that it reflects Tuck’s unwillingIn recent years, the reputation of online ness to adapt to the changing world of MBA programs for offering a lower quality technological advances. Yet I recognize education is quickly changing, especially that brick-and-mortar business schools, as an increasing number of top business with their classrooms, projects and human schools in the United States, such as the interactions, are an invaluable asset. While University of Virginia’s Darden School of both brick-and-mortar and online MBA Business, create programs programs aim to “improve that combine their brickbusiness performance,” and-mortar operations “I recognize the former also help stuwith online platfor ms. that brick-anddents gain a sense of Some schools, such as Babpurpose by showing them son College’s F.W. Olin mortar business they can make a positive Graduate School of Busi- schools, with impact in their communiness, have gone further by ties. More importantly, by creating an entirely online their classrooms, providing an environment program. This expansion projects to develop their business of online MBA programs personalities, they teach seems unlikely to end any- and human students how to connect time soon. In 1989, only interactions, are an with others in face-to-face three universities offered interactions, an essential online MBAs; today, 207 invaluable asset.” skill in business. universities do. As they Of course, businessmen expand and become more should still be concerned established, moreover, onwith profit maximization. line MBA programs are quickly increasing It has been the driving force behind capiin popularity. talism, which has had considerable success A primary reason for the increase in in reducing poverty and raising living stanonline MBA programs is the high cost of dards. Yet this doesn’t mean that business MBAs. Currently, the average cost of tuition schools should only be concerned with this for a traditional MBA program is $80,000, simple economic principle. and that does not even cover living costs As Tuck’s new mission statement anor any additional expenses. On the other nounces, we should also be concerned with hand, the average cost of an online MBA trying to “substantially improve the world we program at a nationally accredited business live in.” It is only through the interactions school is just $11,972; most online programs and guidance of professors and students can be more expensive with a cost between that can we reach this goal.
6175 ROBINSON HALL, HANOVER N.H. 03755 • (603) 646-2600
REBECCA ASOULIN, Editor-in-Chief GAYNE KALUSTIAN, Executive Editor
RACHEL DECHIARA, Publisher ANNIE MA, Executive Editor
SARA MCGAHAN, Managing Editor MICHAEL QIAN, Managing Editor PRODUCTION EDITORS NICOLE SIMINERI, Editorial Chair ANDRES SMITH & ZIQIN YUAN, Opinion Editors LAUREN BUDD & HAYLEY HOVERTER, Mirror Editors GAYNE KALUSTIAN & KOURTNEY KAWANO, Sports Editors HALLIE HUFFAKER, Arts Editor MADELINE KILLEN, Assistant Arts Editor GRACE MILLER & LUCY TANTUM, Dartbeat Editors KATELYN JONES, Multimedia Editor KATE HERRINGTON, Photography Editor
PRIYA RAMAIAH, Managing Editor BUSINESS DIRECTORS HANNAH CARLINO, Finance & Strategy Director HAYDEN KARP-HECKER, Advertising Director ADDISON LEE, Advertising Director PHIL RASANSKY, Advertising Director BRIANNA AGER, Marketing & Communications Director SHINAR JAIN, Marketing & Communications Director JEREMY MITTLEMAN, Technology Director HENRY WILSON, Technology Director
ANNIE DUNCAN & TIFFANY ZHAI, Assistant Photography Editors GAYNE KALUSTIAN, Design Editor
ISSUE
NEWS EDITOR: First Last, NEWS LAYOUT: First Last, TEMPLATING EDITOR: Jaclyn Eagle COPY EDITORS: First Last, First Last
SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
PAGE 7
STAFF COLUMNIST DANIEL FISHBEIN ’19
STAFF COLUMNIST SARAH PEREZ ’17
Trump’s Silenced Supporters
Half-Baked Housing
Disliking a candidate does not excuse discounting his supporters.
The administration should not have changed what wasn’t broken.
If you’re a Donald Trump supporter his perspective as a man who put so much at Dartmouth, you might as well be invis- effort into his work but still felt overlooked ible. In visiting campus this past week, Bill by his country’s leaders. Clinton continued the trend of liberal can- As Trump continues his outright asdidates speaking to liberal students on an sault on logic, we need to listen to what overwhelmingly liberal campus. This trend his supporters tell us. When thinking back implies that it’s acceptable if “you’re with to my conversation with my barber, I can her,” but there’s no place for you here if see why Trump appealed to him. Trump you want to “make America great again.” is a candidate who complains about how I support Clinton as the media tries to sabotage much as most people I “Any attempt him, how the Republican know. This term, I have establishment has turned to silence been working to get out against him and how his the vote and spending a their opinions opponents have continugood chunk of my time evally tried to destroy his represents the eryday trying to make sure character. My barber, as a she wins in New Hamp- same xenophobia small business owner often shire. To me, Trump is overlooked or discounted we hate about completely unfit for the by politicians, felt the presidency, an orange Trump.” same frustrations. Trump man with a comb-over and his supporters are who spews vitriol at minorities and forces bound by anger and the belief that their his tiny hands on the women around him. voices do not count. To continue ignoring But while I disdain the candidate, I try my his supporters, to silence them and remove best to refrain from bashing his supporters. them from your surroundings, only enforces Just because they support a man who many these frustrations. liberal college students view as a bigot does For many of us, Trump represents elenot mean they are bigots, and any attempt ments of an antiquated world we want to to silence their opinions represents the same change. He is a rich, white man who tells xenophobia we hate about Trump. lies on national television, and he is so full Last winter, in my of himself that he thinks small, predominantly women want to be groped white and middle-class “Trump and his by him and so unaware of hometown in central supporters are his faults that he feels in Massachusetts, I had a the right when he mocks conversation with my bound by anger minorities. barber about politics. I and the belief that Yet by ridiculing him, had been watching Fox Clinton supporters have News on the barbershop their voices do not only fed the fire. In the TV, and the anchors were count.” presidential debates, Clintalking about Trump’s inton herself has not taken vasion of the Republican the high road and cogently establishment. When I asked my barber talked about her policies when Trump if he supported Trump, he told me that so clearly has none of value. Rather, she he did, explaining that, while he did not has tried to silence him by calling him a endorse many of Trump’s comments about liar and a fraud. In the past, she has even immigration, he felt that past candidates written off large chunks of his supporters had overlooked small business owners like as degenerates. himself. In his eyes, Trump represented a We all need to recognize this contradichealthy dose of change; in that way, Trump tion. While beliefs in feminism, tolerance was unlike many of the other Republican and equality have led many, including candidates and the polar opposite of Clin- myself, to cringe at the sound of Trump’s ton. voice, we cannot just ig If I wanted to, I could nore the fact that many have objected to many “We cannot just reasonable people who of the points my barber ignore the fact that are not racist or incredmade. I thought that ibly narcissistic agree with he did not fully grasp many reasonable him. In discounting their that Trump’s proposed people who are not beliefs, we effectively beeconomic policy would come the type of person mostly benefit rich people racist or incredibly we denounce Trump for or know that Trump had narcissistic agree being, one who refuses actually ruined many to listen to others. And with him.” small business owners in in doing so, we push his his time as a real estate supporters to see Trump as magnate. I could have tried to educate a candidate who will not ignore them but, him on my personal belief that Bernie rather, speak to them and at least claim to Sanders and his democratic socialism far care about their interests. By blindly labelbetter represents the type of candidate ing Trump supporters as bigots without my barber wanted. But I chose to listen to letting them have their voices heard, we what he had to say and thus learned about fan the fire that feeds Trump’s success.
I apologize in advance if this column a random TV show in a dingy dormitory comes across as a petulant plea from a lounge that isn’t even attached to my physihopelessly jaded senior. While yes, I am a cal dormitory. member of the Class of 2017 graduating I don’t want Harvard University’s houses, this spring, no, I am not jaded. Yale University’s residential colleges or While I’m far less naïve than my first-year Princeton University’s eating clubs. I want self, my appreciation for this school and Dartmouth. I want incoming students to all it has done for me remains unchanged. be able to interact with their peers freely, I’m just as enamored with this campus as I without worrying about which house they, was the first day I set foot or their friends, belong to. I here. That being said, the “Amid the want incoming students to campus landscape has be able to strike up a conchanged dramatically in traditional red versation with a stranger the last term. just because they feel like brick buildings Upon arriving in Hait, not just because they nover a few weeks ago, seen throughout belong to the same house. the first change I noticed the majority of For incoming students, I was a strange edifice that want a residential experiseemed to have sprung up campus, the new ence that doesn’t smack of in the heat of the summer. house centers social engineering. Its odd shape and awkward As a ’17, I had the pleaare more than placement made it look sure of experiencing a even more foreign, like just aesthetically more genuine Dartmouth a UFO that had taken during my freshman year. displeasing.” a wrong turn and fallen Unfortunately, I don’t from the sky. The object think this will be the case had landed smack dab in the center of what for the College’s future classes. For this, I used to be two tennis courts. would like to express my sincerest apologies. To my dismay, I soon learned that the To the Class of 2020 and beyond, I am sorry origin of the structure wasn’t extraterrestrial that you have been reduced to guinea pigs at all but entirely human. “The Onion,” as in a strange social experiment. it has been called, is the newest development This past week, I traveled to Ann Arbor, in the rollout of Dartmouth’s new housing Michigan for an interview. While everything system. The multipurpose space serves resi- went well, I kept returning to one question dents of North Park House and South House, long after the interview had ended. At one hosting a wide variety of social events. As point in our conversation, the interviewer a reluctant resident of the aforementioned had asked me whether I would do anything House, I have already received many emails differently if I could go back in time. Would advertising such programming. I have chosen a different school? Decided on The Onion isn’t the only unfortunate a different major? Knowingly braved many addition to campus architecture. A similar a Hanover winter? space was constructed south of Gile Hall. My answer to these questions was relaShared by residents of School and Allen tively straightforward. Without equivocaHouses, the two-story tion, I simply said no. The building contains a snack “I wouldn’t interviewer, furrowing his bar and communal study brow, seemed taken aback. trade my time at space. “You wouldn’t change a Amid the traditional Dartmouth for single thing?” he asked red brick buildings seen again, this time a twinge throughout the majority anything in the of disbelief in his voice. of campus, the new house world, and I hope “No,” I repeated firmly. centers are more than just I share this anecdote aesthetically displeasing. that future classes not to call attention to They are a glaring re- are able to say the the pitfalls of corporate minder of an administrarecruiting, but to highlight same.” tion intent on overhauling a broader point. Lookeverything that makes our ing back on the last four school unique. years, I am grateful for each and every one. At best, these spaces offer a forum for I wouldn’t trade my time at Dartmouth debate, as with the presidential debate for anything in the world, and I hope that watch party hosted by North Park and future classes are able to say the same. I South Houses a few weeks ago. At worst, hope that they will get to fall in love with they reveal an administration scrounging Dartmouth in the same way I have, despite for student approval amid an unpopular, a host of misguided reforms. Though I am poorly orchestrated experiment in social saddened that they will not experience the engineering. I am hard-pressed to imagine same Dartmouth I fell in love with, I hope any student who would rather attend “North they will see through the reforms and find Park ‘n Chill” — a real event hosted earlier the essence — the gorgeous New England this term — than spend time with friends or setting, the dedicated faculty, the tight-knit catch up on studying. I have better things community — that generations have apto do on a Monday night than binge watch preciated.
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016
PAGE 8
Student Spotlight: artist and Instagram star Rossina Naidoo ’18 By ZACH CHERIAN The Dartmouth
Rossina Naidoo ’18 combines her passion and talent in visual art with a savvy social media presence — her work has been featured on popular Instagram accounts like Nawden, and one drawing garnered tens of thousands of likes as a result. But there was a point in her life when she thought she would have no choice but to give up on art, which had always been a consistent fixture in her life. “I’ve always done it,” Naidoo said. “In prep school we had to take it, and then as soon as we had to pick classes I kept picking it.” However, once she arrived on campus, she was not sure how to fit this passion into her college experience
as a quantitative social sciences major. But she credits the College’s liberal arts requirements with continuing her relationship with visual art. “When I got here, I thought I was giving it up, but then I had to do my art distrib[utive] anyway,” Naidoo said. Her single art distributive led to a declared minor in art, enabling her to formally pursue her passion for visual art. Her professors are glad for that as her striking art has a profound effect on its viewers. “It’s dramatic, there’s this quiet intensity,” said studio art professor Colleen Randall, who was Naidoo’s Drawing I professor and is teaching Naidoo again this fall in Painting II. “There’s a psychological element to them just in terms of the gaze and the space that she creates, the spatial world
she creates for her portraits to exist in.” Naidoo describes her art as “realism mixed with surrealism,” and she specifically enjoys drawing and painting people. “I like to do figures, but then do something more imaginative in the background,” Naidoo said. Shinar Jain, Naidoo’s friend and current roommate, has been on the other side of the easel as a subject for one of Naidoo’s paintings. “The posing experience was really fun,” Jain said. “Seeing myself that big and in painting form was very cool.” The effect of Naidoo’s work translates on the screen as well. Naidoo regularly shares her newest art on Instagram and, more recently, on her Facebook, which has resulted in significant positive feedback. One painting of hers was
reposted by the art-focused Instagram account Nawden, and her work when she last checked was incredibly wellreceived, garnering 18,000 likes, Naidoo said. Naidoo’s skill is well-earned; as a student and an artist, Naidoo is completely engaged. “She’s very quick to learn, she’s very focused and intense and sensitive to visual language, and she has a strong emotional response to the material and her subject matter,” Randall said. Her roommate agreed, adding that her focus extends outside of the classroom as well. “She’s always thinking about her next project, her next subject and what kind of tone she wants to set in her next paintings,” Jain said. Even in the two years she has been
at Dartmouth, Naidoo — and her professor — have noticed changes in her work. Naidoo said that her interests are now moving away from figures and into everyday life in her art. “She’s introducing more color into her work, so that adds new layers of meaning and description in the work,” Randall said. While art may not be a full-time occupation for Naidoo after graduation, she has no intentions to abandon it. “I think I’ll keep drawing for myself,” Naidoo said, and she mentioned digital marketing as a potential career path. Naidoo’s art followed her from high school and into college and from Instagram to Facebook — there is no telling where it will follow her next. Shinar Jain is a member of The Dartmouth’s business staff.