The Dartmouth 04/01/15

VOL. CLXXII NO. 50

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

College offers admission to 2,120 students

SUNNY HIGH 39 LOW 20

By Kelsey Flower The Dartmouth Staff

The College offered admission to the Class of 2019 to 2,120 students yesterday for an overall acceptance rate of 10.3 percent, down from last year’s 11.5 percent acceptance rate, the College announced. Dean of admissions and financial aid Maria Laskaris said that, in terms of the percentage breakdown, this year’s pool of accepted students constitutes the most diverse group of students in College history.

The acceptance rate is the second highest in the Ivy League, lower only than Cornell University, which acElLIZABETH MCNALLY/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

SPORTS

A SEASON WITH MEN’S HOCKEY PAGE 8

OPINION

SMITH: EXPANDING DIMENSIONS PAGE 4

ARTS

SPOTLIGHT: CHARLI FOOL BEAR-VETTER PAGE 7 READ US ON

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The College offered admission to 2,120 students, about 10.3 percent of the total applicant pool.

SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 2

First-Year Trips sees decrease in leader, Croo applications

B y Lauren Budd

The Dartmouth Staff

This year’s total number of student applications to be Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trip leaders and Croo members decreased from last year’s applicant pool, director Peety Kaur ’15 and assistant director Sam Parker ’15 said.

Kaur attributed the drop in applications to the new academic calender and the date on which sophomore summer ends, which prevents all sophomores on campus during the summer from participating as a

member of a Croo and limits the number of sections in which a sophomore could participate as a leader.

This year saw 575 Trip leader applications, compared to last year’s 618, while Croo applications decreased from 200 to 154, Kaur said. The numbers represent respective decreases of approximately seven and 23 percent from the previous year.

Despite a drop in the number of applications from last year, Kaur and Parker said that new information sessions and various outreach efforts for potential ap-

plicants has attracted a strong group from which to select next year’s Trip leaders and Croo members.

Last year, there were no information sessions for potential Trip leaders, Kaur said. She added that this year the Trips directorate emphasized outreach efforts in particular, including information sessions and email reminders about application release dates and deadlines. The information sessions covered a range of topics ranging from the application process itself to how to improve individual applications.

Parker said that the sessions encour-

Student Assembly prepares for new leadership B y Lucia McGloin The Dartmouth Staff

With election season for Student Assembly set to begin in the coming weeks, the tenures of student body president Casey Dennis ’15 and vice president Frank Cunningham ’16 are coming to a close. In preparation for new leadership, Dennis and Cunningham said this term they are designing tools to sustain momentum in the Assembly, including the institution of a new financial structure, solidifying committees to continue their campaigns for both

aged a wider range of students to apply who may not have in the past, emphasizing that anyone can be a Trip leader.

The majority of those in attendance at the information sessions were first-year students, Kaur said, and feedback from attendees was largely positive.

The Trips directorated organized a panel comprised of former Trip leaders and Croo members two weeks before the applications were released, and the speakers were encouraged to speak canSEE TRIPS PAGE 3

A JOB WELL DONE

sexual assault prevention and mental health awareness and strengthening the Assembly’s relationship with College administrators and the Board of Trustees.

In an effort to improve the relationship between the Assembly and the Undergraduate Finance Committee, Dennis said the Assembly will now receive funding in an annual lump sum rather than on a basis of proposals. In the fall, the Assembly was granted $40,000 of the initial $70,500 it requested from the UFC, a $18,000 funding WEIJIA TANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

SEE STUDENT ASSEMBLY PAGE 3

Students met on- and off-campus employers at the job fair in Paganucci Lounge.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 2

CAMPUS BLOTTER Mar. 27, 10:24 p.m., Observatory Road: Safety and Security officers received an anonymous report of a suspicious vehicle on Observatory Road. The vehicle reportedly stopped on the road and asked an individual if they needed a lift. The individual declined, and the vehicle left the area. A report was then filed for the vehicle’s suspicious activity.

Mar. 28, 9:16 p.m., Maynard Street Parking Lot: Safety and Security officers responded to a report of a white Kia Soul racing in Maynard Lot. Safety and Security officers contacted the Hanover Police Department, but the vehicle left the area before anyone was able to identify it.

Mar. 29, 1:48 p.m., South Massachusetts Residence Hall: A student living in South Mass reported 400 dollars stolen from their desk. There were no identified suspects at the time.

— COMPILED BY MAY MANSOUR

Corrections We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.

#JUSTICEMATTERS

KATELYN JONES/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The Afro-American Society hosted a letter-writing campaign in Cutter Shabazz Hall.

College admits 100 fewer students FROM ADMISSIONS PAGE 1

cepted 14.9 percent of students.

Brown University admitted 8.49 percent of applicants, Columbia University admitted 6.1 percent, Princeton University admitted 6.99 percent, the University of Pennsylvania admitted 9.9 percent and Yale University admitted 6.49 percent.

Harvard University has not yet published its regular decision numbers, but The Harvard Crimson reported in February that the University had received an all-time high number of 37,305 applications.

The overall applicant pool increased by more than six percent from last year to 20,504 applicants, following a 14 percent decrease from the year before.

Laskaris said because last year’s class had a larger yield rate then expected, the College admitted 100 fewer students this year than were admitted to the Class of 2018.

The decision to decrease the total number of admitted students came because the admissions office did not want to find themselves in the position of having a “supersized” freshman class again, Laskaris said.

Laskaris said that while she is “obviously thrilled” with the pool of students that was accepted, the combination of a higher number of applications and the decision to admit 100 fewer students “added pressure” and made for a “grueling selection process.”

Laskaris emphasized that the process was difficult not only from a numerical perspective, but also because the vast majority of the students who applied had adequate academic preparation to enroll and could have both benefitted from and contributed to the on-campus community.

When marketing the College to prospective students, Laskaris said the admissions office is trying to ensure that bright, talented students from a diverse set of backgrounds understand the College’s distinctive characteristics and opportunities.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time talking about the core of the work here and thinking about all the students who might be a good fit here and how to share with them those special distinguishing features,” Laskaris said.

One key change in the admissions process this year was the addition of a supplemental essay prompt where students could choose to answer one of five essay options, Laskaris said.

She said the purpose of the prompt was to give “added nuance and texture” to the application so the admissions team could “get to know the students a little bit better.”

Examples of these supplemental prompts include describing the meaning and history of one’s name or sharing an meaningful, intellectual experience.

T he new supplement was successful, Laskaris said, as the

admissions office was able to use the supplement to help “make some of the nuanced and difficult decisions.”

In terms of the makeup of the admitted class, 60.9 percent of the total admitted students attend public schools, 27.2 percent attend private schools and 11.9 percent attend parochial schools, according to Laskaris.

The overall regional breakdown is 13.1 percent from New England, 22.8 percent from the Mid-Atlantic, 19.3 percent from the South, 9.3 percent from the Midwest and 26.9 percent from West, as well as 8.5 percent international students.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time talking about the core of the work here and thinking about all the students who might be a good fit here and how to share with them those special distinguishing features.”

-Maria laskaris, dean of admissions and financial aid Students of color comprise 49.8 percent of admitted students, international students and legacies make up 7.9 percent each and first-generation college students comprise 14.9 percent.

Of those ranked, 38.4 percent of students admitted were valedictorians of their class, 10.1 percent were salutatorians and 94.9 percent were in the top 10 percent of their graduating class, according to Laskaris. The mean SAT score was 2216 and the mean ACT score was 32.8.

Forty-six percent of accepted students are eligible to receive need-based financial aid, with 14 percent being Pell Grant recipients. The average scholarship amount is $44,142.

In December, the College admitted 483 early decision applicants to the Class of 2019, or about 26 percent of the 1,859-person applicant pool, which was the largest in College history.

College consultant John Merrill said that a potential reason for the increase in the number of applications could be due to a possible false perception that it would be easier to gain admission the College to than other Ivy League schools because of the 14 percent application drop last year.

Merrill added that he would have thought that the recent media attention surrounding Dartmouth would have affected application

numbers more than it did.

As a college counselor, Merrill said that he makes sure his clients know current issues with the colleges to which they are applying.

In regards to Dartmouth specifically, Merrill said he would mention to his clients that College President Phil Hanlon is addressing on-campus issues through his “Moving Dartmouth Forward” plan. Merrill added that he supports the proposed reforms.

Merrill emphasized that his thoughts on what caused a rise in application numbers are subjective, as it is difficult to explain exactly what could have caused an increase.

Laskaris anticipates that prospective students and their families will want to know more information about “Moving Dartmouth Forward,”and the admissions office plans to share this information in more detail during Dimensions of Dartmouth — a series of weekends when accepted students are invited to campus.

One aspect of “Moving Dartmouth Forward” that Laskaris said she is particularly excited to talk about is the work being done to prepare the residential communities that the Class of 2019 will pilot, and that she thinks there is a lot of excitement about the new system.

Regarding issues affecting campus today, Laskaris said that the admissions office aims to be “open and transparent” about the work being done to address highrisk behaviors, student safety and sexual assault.

Laskaris said she thinks that students and parents are concerned about these issues regardless of where they are applying. She thinks that the College has taken “tangible, good steps” to address these issues, and that is something that “parents and students are really interested in knowing.”

Sam Reed, a prospective student accepted yesterday from Falmouth, Maine, said that having good friends at the College influenced his decision to apply.

In addition, Reid said he noticed that alumni frequently wear College apparel.

“That showed me how proud they were to have gone there and how good of a place it must be,” Reid said.

Matt Norris, another prospective student accepted yesterday from Bangor, Maine, said that a friend in the Class of 2018 inspired him to apply.

“I saw her journey through freshman year, the opportunities she was presented, all of the things she got to do and the classes she got to take,” Norris said. He added that the international nature of the school and the vitality and diversity of the student body also encouraged him to apply.

Norris, who is deciding between several colleges, said that he jumped up, flailed his arms and screamed when he found out that he was accepted.

“My heart is still racing whenever I think about it,” he said.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Student Assembly reflects on past year FROM STUDENT ASSEMBLY PAGE 1

cut from the previous year.

Cunningham said that the UFC was reluctant to match the Assembly’s funding requests because past leadership had finished with excess funds. He said this year’s Assembly, which is one of the largest in College history at 95 members, enacted an ambitious agenda that enlarged the Assembly’s responsibility and participation in campus issues. By co-hosting events with student groups like Active Minds and Palaeopitus Senior Society, Cunningham said that the Assembly successfully orchestrated their programs, ending the term with “every dime spent.”

Dennis said the Assembly has actively strengthened its relationships with both student groups and administrators. In addition to regular communication with College administrators, the Assembly organized a student dinner last November with the Board of Trustees, something Dennis said he hopes will continue under the next Assembly leadership. The meeting provided an informal platform for dialogue between students across campus and the Board of Trustees.

Dennis and Cunningham highlighted two campaigns last fall — the “I’m Here for You” campaign for mental health awareness and the “It’s On Us” initiative to mitigate sexual assault — as main pillars of their assembly’s agenda.

The next leadership will inherit five functioning committees, which Dennis said he hopes will aid the continuation of both campaigns. Cunningham said there is always more work to be done on sexual assault and mental health.

Campaign director Speight Carr ’16, who helped orchestrate both campaigns, said that he thought they were successful in increasing the visibility of the Assembly on campus and extending attention to important issues. In addition to hosting a student panel and co-hosting a relaxation fair, the Assembly coordinated with Dick’s House to make mental health screening more accessible to student patients. Cunningham said that the counseling numbers at Dick’s House have “skyrocketed,” generating more attention toward how resources might

be further developed to address mental illness.

Some events hosted by the Assembly garnered a large amount of attention from students. Over 100 students, for example, attended a September mental health panel discussion.

Still, several students interviewed

by The Dartmouth expressed a lack of familiarity with the Assembly’s programming, and only one of six could identify a program launched by Student Assembly. Natalie Kwan ’18 said she remembers seeing posters throughout the library, though she never attended an Assembly event herself.

Dennis said that the Assembly was unable to pursue plans to host underrepresented groups at the College and that the idea was one among many that he would have pursued if time and resources had allowed.

Other initiatives included events to honor the people who enhance the Dartmouth experience, Dennis said.

The Assembly’s “Profiles in Excellence” event in the winter honored computer science professor Prasad Jayanti for outstanding teaching. They also organized an employee appreciation day for Dartmouth Dining Services to make cards and host a dessert potluck.

“Our priorities are fluid, not static,” Dennis said.

He said that this winter, the Assembly’s agenda was specially tailored to the rollout of “Moving Dartmouth Forward,” creating resources to help students understand and discuss the provisions. On the day that College President Phil Hanlon made his “Moving Dartmouth Forward” announcement, for example, Dennis and Cunningham ran a student-only forum to address student questions and perspectives.

Dennis said that these perspectives informed the focus of the town hall meeting the Assembly co-hosted with Palaeopitus and the Office of the President later in the term, where College President Phil Hanlon, Interim Dean of the College Inge-Lise Ameer, Dean of the Faculty Michael Mastanduno and Provost Carolyn Dever addressed questions from students in regards to the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” plan.

MARK WIDERSCHEIN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

As elections draw near, Student Assembly plans to sustain this year’s momentum.

PAGE 3

Trips outreach includes panel FROM TRIPS PAGE 1

didly about their experiences as Trips volunteers, Kaur said.

The directorate also collaborated with RWIT to create a one-page guide outlining how applicants could write a standout Trips application, Kaur said, which included detailed steps and tips for writing responses to application’s essay questions.

“One of our biggest goals for this year was to not self-select who can or can’t apply for the program simply because they haven’t heard about it or didn’t know the application was out,” Parker said. “We did a lot of outreach this year to target as many campus and student groups as we could, and I think we were really successful in doing that.”

Kaur went on to say that many of the groups they reached out to had never been contacted by the DOC before and responded positively to the outreach, passing along information to their respective members and blitz lists.

The reading and scoring process for applicants has just begun, so details regarding the increased diversity of students applying to be Trips leaders are not yet available, Kaur said. She said, however, that blitzes from individual applicants who asked for more information or confirmed that the increased outreach convinced them to apply is encouraging.

ANNIE DUNCAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

First-Year Trips saw a decrease in applicant numbers for Trip leaders and Croo members.

“In terms of transparency and outreach, we did everything we could,” Parker said. “That being said, I don’t think this process is perfect and I think Trips can and does improve itself every year. There’s a lot of room for increased diversity in all respects... Part of that’s related to the schedule, part’s related to the trips we offer. There’s a lot more room, but I think this year we did the best we could with our team and our time.”

Dru Falco ’18, who applied to be a Trip leader this year, said that the information sessions were very helpful in terms of presenting what the overall experience as a leader was like, as well as the goals of the Trips program as a whole.

The sessions also emphasized that the program offers something for ev-

eryone, regardless of past experience or previous training, she said.

“I love being outdoors, but I’m not a super outdoorsy person so I was worried that I wouldn’t be qualified for Trips, or that I wouldn’t adjust, or that they wouldn’t want me because I wouldn’t know what I was doing,” Falco said.

“They made me feel better that I didn’t have so much experience. They made me want to apply, and they made me really excited.”

The information session also clarified the roles of Trip Leaders and Croo members and the differences between them, Falco said. She said that she also thought that attendance at the sessions was made up of a diverse crowd.

“I’d say that they definitely included people who weren’t just in the DOC,” she said.

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

PAGE 4

Staff Columnist ANDRES SMITH ’17

CONTRIBUTING Columnist MICHAEL MCDAVID ’15

Expanding Dimensions

Misplacing Academic Rigor

The College should encourage all accepted students to come to Dimensions.

The start of spring term means many things for students — friends return from off-terms, ski season is largely over and now that big, furry boots are no longer necessary for students, L.L. Bean’s stock probably dips 50 points. For much of campus, spring also comes with a good deal of excitement about Dimensions of Dartmouth. Whether involved with the show or hosting prospective students, Dimensions affects most of us in one way or another. It impacts prospective students as well — most who went to Dimensions have a story about an amazing experience with older students or other prospective students who would later become their classmates.

As influential as this program is, one of its few shortcomings is that it excludes hundreds of students and puts them at a disadvantage when they matriculate. The College invites accepted students to visit Hanover and covers two meals and housing — but only if they apply through the regular decision process.

Students who are accepted early decision are not only not invited, but explicitly asked not to attend. This makes some sense — Dimensions was created to give accepted students a taste of the Dartmouth experience in the hope that they will choose the College over other schools.

People accepted through early decision do not need to be convinced to attend the College, so it may seem illogical to fund a Dimensions visit for them. This policy, however, puts the early decision students at an disadvantage when they arrive in Hanover in the fall. The College, therefore, should extend the offer to come to Dimensions to all accepted students — regular decision or otherwise.

Through Dimensions, prospective students can make meaningful connections to those who already attend the College, particularly given that all prospective students are hosted by current students. By volunteering to be a host, these students demonstrate their desire to help younger students and often prove to be a useful resource once freshmen arrive on campus. Adjusting to a new home can be daunting, and being able to approach a familiar

older peer with questions or concerns is comforting. Unfortunately, the first-year students accepted through early decision do not have the luxury of having met a host — and likely several other upperclassmen — over Dimensions. While other students like Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trips leaders can also be great resources, someone coming to a completely new place can use as many mentors as they can get. Also, in attending some of the performances and programming offered during Dimensions, prospective students can familiarize themselves with the different groups and come into their first term with an idea of in what they are interested, while early decision students cannot.

Another significant advantage afforded to students who go to Dimensions is the opportunity to meet and spend time with many of those people who will ultimately be members of their class. A lot of connections are made during Dimensions, and those friends are likely among the first that a student is going to contact upon returning from Trips and starting the fall term.

Of course, a prospective student isn’t going to meet everyone who goes to Dimensions with them — but it is still a widely shared, enjoyable experience that can serve as a foundation for friendships. Students admitted through early decision do not get to share in that experience, and their social net is that much smaller when they arrive on campus.

This is not to say that a student who does not go to Dimensions will not excel. Having been on campus for a few days and having met a good deal of people both older and in their class, however, does make the transition to college life that much easier. About 40 percent of each incoming class is admitted through early decision, and it is unfair that they are not afforded the same advantages that most other students are. There is no one aspect of Dimensions that is going to make or break someone’s experience at the College, but as a whole it does make the often difficult transition a little smoother — and every student deserves that.

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ISSUE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

NEWS EDITOR: Sara McGahan. LAYOUT EDITOR: Lily Xu. TEMPLATING EDITOR: Elyse Kuo.

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.

Academic rigor does not need to be unilaterally increased.

Perhaps the least expected element of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” plan was a renewed commitment to academic rigor. In his Jan. 29 address, College President Phil Hanlon proposed earlier class times on Tuesdays and Thursdays in addition to encouraging professors to no longer cancel class surrounding big weekends, with the implication he may institute other measures as well. The more nebulous suggestion that the College as a whole needs to increase its academic rigor is misleading and misplaced.

To be clear, I am not against bolstering the level of academic rigor. I think all too frequently students at the College — and universities in general — do not truly take advantage of the wealth of opportunities available to them. We often think of college as a place to party and revel in the combination of our youth and lack of pressing commitments. Many of us prioritize socializing and enjoying ourselves first and studying second. Yet I am of the opinion that no matter how fun college is — and it is quite fun — we are here for a reason. That reason is education, rather than inebriation.

I’ll admit I am far from unfamiliar with the pleasures of inebriation, and I ought to be the first to mention that I could use my own dose of academic rigor. First, as an English major, I spent a good deal of time during my sophomore year trying to convince myself that it was not a soft major. Though I do my reading and write papers that I find meaningful, I know it is not the same as other disciplines. One can argue that there are not soft majors and hard majors — but my department features, this very term no less, what many consider the biggest layup in the school, “American Drama.”

Even with apparent layup classes in various departments, some students take this avoidance of rigourous courses even further. I know students who have never taken a 10A or 2A because it gives them whole days of free time.

For many, distributive requirements — meant to force us to learn about a broad range of topics — have become a search for the easiest class that will fulfill the requirement. There

are classes in which attendance is essentially optional. I do not think it is going out on a limb to say that “Sports, Ethics and Religion,” for example, would have benefited from an increase in academic rigor.

Yet, for all of the people who take academics less than seriously, there are as many students and as many classes that are just as rigorous as they need to be. Does anyone really think that the engineering major needs to be more difficult to finish? Are people concerned that the legions of highly motivated and competitive pre-professional students in economics classes are not working hard enough?

For the most part, students will work as hard as they are inclined to, and nothing short of extreme measures from administrators can change that. If classes begin at 8 a.m., there will in all likelihood be more students who won’t take them. There are differences in the variety of courses students take, and I suspect there always will be. Some will be more timeconsuming and some will be less. Regardless of any top-down moves by the College, students who want more time to drink and party will likely find it.

I suspect that for President Hanlon and the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” campaign, increasing academic rigor is a measure aimed at reducing “extreme behaviors” like binge drinking. While I agree that the College ought to take steps to curb high-risk drinking, the concept of increased academic rigor is misplaced.

President Hanlon and his administrators must be careful that their rhetoric is not empty, and that our collective actions achieve the ends we set out for them.

At an institution of higher learning, the idea of making academics more rigorous sounds ironclad. But the College needs to — and I would assume wants to — give its students the freedom to decide for themselves what classes they will take and how invested they will be.

Holding the feet of engaged, hard-working students ever closer to the fire will likely do little to affect those who have avoided 10As to squeeze in one more game of pong on Wednesday night.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 5

Kalustian travels to ECAC quarterfinals as men’s hockey ends FROM HOCKEY PAGE 8

line.

He truly believes, he wrote, in every person on the team.

As November came around, the ice hockey season began, and I put out my first official game recap. During the editorial process, a tiny line about the team’s penalty kill from the end was cropped and put up top as the lead. It suggested that the team killing penalties was “a notable accomplishment.”

Overflowing with anxiety that the line would read as patronizing to a team I was just starting to learn about, I asked my editors to change the wording online and immediately emailed Sikura and Salvas with a long-winded apology. In hindsight, it may have been a bit of an overkill. but Sikura wrote back. The mishap, he wrote, wasn’t anything to be overly concerned about. He thanked me for reaching out to him so quickly, and said that the email showed that I took pride in my work.

It doesn’t seem like much now, but to a perfectionist who was embarking on covering a sport that she was learning about along the way, it was the ultimate pass — permission to try again.

Sikura finished his tenure for the Big Green with 92 career points, only two behind alternate captain Eric Neiley’s ’15 94. Neiley had a lights-out, 30-point season for the Big Green, centering the team’s particularly potent second line alongside Brandon McNally ’15. Neiley, like his other linemate Grant Opperman ’17, became one of my go-to for interviews. They were straight-shooters who told the versions of games which were the closest to the self-critical truth, and the two were always willing to respond to my requests for interviews.

After his career-high two-goal game against then-No. 20 St. Lawrence University, I submitted a request to Rick Pinkston ’15 for an interview. I was careful about how I worded the request, because despite Pinkston’s two goals the team eventually lost that game. It’s hard to talk to teams after they lose. I waited, and I waited, and I waited. There was no response, which I’ve grown accustomed to when attempting to contact not just hockey players but athletes from almost any sport. I saw Pinkston later that day in FoCo. As I walked toward him with the kind of pursed lips that said I was a bit unhappy, I called out his name. He said hello and asked me how I was before pausing.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked as he slowed down his cadence to the hockey team’s table.

I told him about the request — which he didn’t answer — and that I was disappointed that I didn’t get to interview him after such an impressive game.

Pinkston’s shoulders dropped, the creases of his mouth relaxed and his eyebrows came up above their normal resting place. His eyes opened just the slightest bit wider, a clear look of surprise on his face. Surprised, I think, at himself. Pinkston pulled out the kind

of sincere apology some journalists wait their entire lives for. I quickly reassured him that everything had worked out, that Opperman had agreed to talk and that he really shouldn’t worry about it.

Pinkston apologized again as I walked to my own team’s table, and it occurred to me that after terms of being ignored by important players that — at least for some people — it really was an accident.

It’s hard to get that kind of real sense of a +15 rating defenseman who finished his senior season with 13 points in postgame interviews.

These small interactions, which the players sometimes remember and sometimes don’t, colored the 2014-2015 season for me. It was a great to watch them play hockey — the sport is fast, interesting and contact oriented. Hockey is captivating in the kind of way where you really can’t bring yourself to look away.

The season has made a lifelong fan out of me. I even played on an intramural team this year, though my skating ability is somewhat reminiscent of a newborn horse trying to take its first steps. Except I, unlike the horse, never got better.

This season and the team that played it are much more than a set of numbers, statistics and sports aspirations. It’s the way you can’t get them to use full names in interviews; everyone is Fergie, Bully, Sikky, Mac, Neils, Robo, Opps, and G. It’s Charlie Mosey ’15 being a regular guy, just talking about how he misses home. It’s Charles Grant ’16 avoiding an interview not because he didn’t want to talk but because he didn’t want to be asked to say anything “controversial” about his teammate James Kruger ’16, who was ranked No. 6 nationally in goals against average at the end of the regular season. It’s Andy Simpson ’15 leading the ECAC in blocked shots—the kind of physical self-sacrifice that gives an advantage to the team and bruises and welts to Simpson. It’s Opperman jumping off the bench with an immediate sense of urgency to skate over in support of Kruger after the team dropped game one of the Quarterfinals. It’s the senior class skating up, together as one, to take a picture with Jesse Beamish ’15, whose family couldn’t make it to senior night.

It’s this team, comprised of guys who, whatever you call them — athletes, students, people—spend 80 percent of their time thinking about hockey and the other 20 percent of the time thinking about their teammates and families.

I wouldn’t be writing this story if I were the only one who felt this way. I spent my winter interim period working and watching hockey in Hanover. As soon as I mentioned being a student at the College who wrote about sports in her free time, the first thing people in the community mentioned was the men’s ice hockey team.

An elementary school kid talked to me about how he just watched the amazing game where the Big Green beat the No. 1 Boston University Terriers.

“I was there,” he whispered.

An employee at a local dining establishment was wearing a Dartmouth

GAYNE KALUSTIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The men’s hockey team took No. 16 Colgate University to overtime in the second game of the ECAC quarterfinals before falling.

hockey sweater. In the spirit of being friendly before service at breakfast, I complimented the sweater, and she erupted in an outpouring of love for the school’s hockey program. She knew by the end of sophomore summer which kids she liked and which ones she didn’t, but she always loved, she said, the guys on the hockey team.

This season gave meaning to the rankings that SmartAsset put out earlier this year, collecting what they call the best hockey towns in the United States that don’t claim an NHL team. Hanover was second, ahead of all minor league teams and second to just one collegiate team in the country: No. 1 University of North Dakota. I don’t think, necessarily, that the players play for the community.

I don’t think they play for the school. I don’t think they play for their parents.

They play, I think, for each other. And that’s what makes everyone around them love it. In the coldest place I’ve ever lived, a winter of Big Green hockey made it worth it, especially in a year that was full of upsets and unreal glove saves, a victorious shootout in Thompson Arena and yes, sometimes, heart-breaking defeat.

For me, there was something visceral about this season that will never be repeated. I’ll continue to write about the world of Big Green sports, and it will always be different. It will always be my first year covering a hockey team, and that will never change. I read books, biographies, ethnographies, strategies and articles about the sport and watched more NHL Network than I think any one person ever should. I stared at blank Microsoft Word documents for hours sometimes, hands pushing up the soft chunks of my cheeks into my tired eyes and my brow furrowed into what little kids say causes my “worry lines.”

In the end, though, I absorbed more from the players than I did from anyone or anything else.

Others have pointed out, though,

that there’s something about this winter for Dartmouth hockey that makes it an “almost” season. I’ve heard from more than one person a sympathetic lament for Gaudet who has been coaching the Big Green for almost two decades and never has secured an ECAC Championship.

This team, this year, was probably good enough to make that happen.

If the world looks down on the ice, ascribing value to a team solely based on wins and losses, then certainly it was a season that fell short. But it’s hard for me, whose spent the better part of two terms watching and wondering about players, on and off the ice, to see anything else that could be considered “almost” about it.

As Coach Gaudet emerged from the locker room following the team’s

expulsion from the ECAC postseason, he just started talking before I’d had the opportunity to ask even a single question.

I didn’t say a single word. I didn’t have to. He just got going. And after four and a half months of following a team who trusted each other, believed in each other like no team I have written about ever has, I had some vague, abstract idea of what he was talking about.

“We didn’t give ‘em a whole lot, and they didn’t take a whole lot,” Gaudet said. “It’s a really emotional time because it’s the last time these seniors will have a uniform on, but I can’t ask anything more from them. They left it all on the ice, and I mean that. There is absolutely nothing more.”

This article was originally published online on March 18 under the headline, “A Season Well Spent.”

PAGE 6

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

DARTMOUTH EVENTS TODAY 4:00 p.m.

Dartmouth women’s lacrosse versus Harvard University, Scully/ Fahey Field

4:30 p.m.

“Intermediate Dance Master Class,” with Kyle Abraham, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Berry Straus Dance Studio

7:00 p.m.

“When The Wolves Come In,” by Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion dance troupe, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Moore Theater

TOMORROW 12:30 p.m.

“Sustainability Solutions Cafe” with Garvin Jabusch, Class of 1953 Commons, Paganucci Lounge

12:45 p.m.

“Your Brain: An Ever-Changing Network,” Cummings Hall, Spanos Auditorium

4:00 p.m.

“What’s Behind Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger Contradictions?,” Wilder 201

ADVERTISING 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.

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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

PAGE 7

Student Spotlight: Charli Fool Bear-Vetter ’15

B y HALLIE HUFFAKER The Dartmouth Staff

Though she does not come from a musical family, Charli Fool BearVetter ’15 fell in love with music at an early age. Without ever taking a lesson — and without the benefit of a choir at her high school — the a cappella singer said she trained herself to write music, play the guitar and sing.

“Right now I’m trying to write a musical that is sort of in the vein of ‘Once’ [2006] with really simple guitar and piano,” she said. “I’m working my way into trying to learn how to compose a whole show.”

This passion — and ambition to learn more — is evident to many of Fool Bear-Vetter’s friends and fellow performers. Emma Orme ’15, who sings with Fool Bear-Vetter in the Rockapellas, described her as “the best person in the world.”

“When she is singing, it is never just singing,” Orme said. “She is telling you something. She knows herself and her values very well, and her stability makes the people around her feel like everything will be OK.” Despite having no prior experience singing with a group, Fool BearVetter said she came to Dartmouth excited to join the a cappella scene.

She was immediately drawn to the Rockapellas — a group she described as by far her most rewarding at the College — because she felt their social justice inspired musical reper-

toire was meaningful. Orme, when asked to recall her first impression of Fool Bear-Vetter, said she remembers being “stunned” by her voice, which Fool Bear-Vetter herself describes as “bluesy-folk rock.”

“I had never heard another voice like it,” Orme said. “Her voice is very earthy. It has a real depth of tone.”

Jordana Composto ’16, another member of the Rockapellas, called Fool Bear-Vetter the “heart of our group” while also praising her vocal quality.

“She has a powerful, big voice, and she knows how to use it,” Composto said. “She knows how to make the small moments equally as important as the big ones.”

Outside of the Rockapellas, Fool Bear-Vetter has shone through her participation in Dartmouth Idol, in which she has performed three times.

Placing second this winter and earning a $250 prize, Fool Bear-Vetter also appeared in the Dartmouth Idol finals in 2012 and in the semifinals in 2014.

This winter in particular, Fool Bear-Vetter said, she enjoyed getting to know the diverse group involved with the show behind the stage and performing in front of a crowded audience.

“I’ve never just stood on stage and sung with someone without an instrument in my hand,” she said.

“Singing the duet was especially different because with a solo, I made up my own story for it and I made the connections, but for a duet you work

DANIEL BERTHE/THE DARTMOUTH

Charli Fool Bear-Vetter ’15 won second place at Dartmouth Idol this year, taking home a $250 prize.

together. You set an emotional arch for it — you are writing something together.”

While at the College, Fool BearVetter’s passion for performing has led her to the theater department and to a major in the field. She discovered her interest in the department after taking a playwriting course, she said, and ideally hopes to combine her interest in writing and singing by working in musical theatre. Eventually, she hopes to make and produce music or write for other performers.

In addition to her performances on campus — and her eclectic musical taste, which spans Barbra Streisand and Metallica — Fool Bear-Vetter is also a member of Native Americans at Dartmouth, which she calls another important part of her Dartmouth experience.

Friends know her as a confident and self-aware person, and Elena Bird ’18 described her as “strong and independent.”

“I have definitely grown at Dartmouth,” Fool Bear-Vetter said.

“When I got here I was shy and anxious all the time, and I am still an anxious person. But over Dartmouth I’ve become a more extroverted person, a more comfortable person.”

The final word with Charli Fool Bear-Vetter ’15 Favorite snack at late-night: mozzarella sticks.

Favorite spot to relax on campus: NAD lounge in Robinson Hall.

Master classes bring performers, students together to rehearse B y haley gordon The Dartmouth Staff

Kyle Abraham, whose choreography can be seen performed at the Hopkins Center this week in “When the Wolves Came In” — a performance combining classical and modern dance styles to explore the civil rights struggles in South Africa and the United States — is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow with an international reputation. Today, though, he will trade working with professional dancers for a postmodern movement class in Straus Dance Studio, open to both students and the community.

“How often do you get to take a class with the choreographer that’s famous for the work?” Laura Vang ’15, a dancer who plans to attend the class, said. “Having seen the show, I’m really hoping we get to see what he says to dancers to inspire the movement.”

Abraham’s class, which will take place at 4:30 p.m., is not an anomaly in Hanover. Like many performing arts centers around the country, the

Hop has a history of working with visiting artists to offer community outreach programs, of which classes like Abraham’s are a key element. Known as “master classes,” these workshops are often open to both students and members of the community, but some may also be organized for students with specific skill sets — like strength in a particular instrument ­­— Hopkins Center publicity coordinator Rebecca Bailey said.

Hopkins Center outreach and arts education manager Stephanie Pacheco said that master classes can run in two distinct formats. In one case, Pacheco said, classes may operate in a workshop style with participants working to fine tune their craft. In the other, the master class can run in a meet-and-greet style, with artists providing insight into their personal style and background while providing context for their performance.

Contrary to popular perception, Pacheco said, visiting artists at the College spend most of their time working with courses offered in various departments and engaging with students in master classes rather than

simply performing and showcasing their talents. Class visits can include those with obvious connections — like musicians visiting music classes — but also include cross-disciplinary exposure, she said. This spring, for example, The Nile River Project — a collection of musicians from 11 Nile countries working to spark curiosity about the region and inspire students to tackle the complex challenges facing the Nile River — will visit classes in the sciences in addition to music courses.

“We really try to look for musicians throughout the year that have a background in education and teaching,” Pacheco said. “Philosophically, the Hopkins Center really builds those engagement activities into our whole process of bringing artists to campus.

We are an educational institution.”

Carina Conti ’16, who has been dancing since she was three years old, said that master classes are further interdisciplinary in that they challenge dancers to work in styles distinct from the ones they usually practice.

“Even if a master class isn’t in your field of expertise, it’s good to

challenge yourself in different ways,” she said. “Making your body move to different music and different styles is extremely helpful in making you a better dancer.”

In order to schedule class visits and master classes, the Hop maintains open communication with academic departments, Bailey said. This communication keeps the connection between artists and the College’s curriculum on the forefront of the staff ’s mind, she said.

“Things like this have grown over time,” Bailey said. “It’s been at this current configuration as long as I’ve been here...and I know it goes much farther than that.”

In addition to Abraham’s masterclass, Hanover will welcome Ravi Coltrane to campus this spring. Coltrane, a jazz saxophonist and bandleader, will lead a master class with Dartmouth student jazz musicians on April 24. In addition, Stephen Drury, a world-renowned performer and conductor and Callithumpian Consort artistic director, will lead a master class in piano.

While some master classes are

restricted to a specific group — like the quintet Imani Winds’ visit to the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble last year — many are open to interested community members.

Some groups in the past have worked with high school and middle school orchestras, sitting down alongside them and practicing as one large group. In other cases, like Shantala Shivalingappa’s dance master class during the winter, events are opened to community members who are at least intermediate in the field.

To participate in master classes, students should stay aware of notices about open events that are sent via email, Pacheco said. Students and community members can register online or through the Hop Box Office. Certain classes are only offered to specific students, but many are open to observers even when their participants are restricted.

“If you see something coming that you’re interested in you can always reach out to Hop Outreach,” Pacheco said. “Sometimes there’s official programs in the works, and sometimes we can arrange…a one-on-one.”

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS

PAGE 8

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015

WEDNESDAY LINEUP

WOMEN’S LACROSSE VS. HARVARD 4 PM

A Season on the Ice: Looking Back on Men’s Hockey B y Gayne kalustian The Dartmouth Staff

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to have nostalgia at a time like this.

This is the men’s ice hockey’s story, and I am a writer, the ultimate inside-outsider. There’s an otherworldly aspect to the sport that I both understand and don’t — enough that I feel I can write something about it but just enough mystery to keep my eyes glued to what unfolds on the ice.

The game can become so intense I don’t realize I’ve stopped breathing until I hear the final buzzer and I let out the pent up air, unaware that so much apprehension could fit inside my 5’2” frame.

Game two of this past weekend’s ECAC quarterfinals had the potential for the kind of ending you thirst for as a writer — unbelievable pressure, mounting suspense, a comeback in a do-or-die playoff match up that would push the contenders into overtime. A 6-4 man advantage for the Big Green flashed a wave of hope over the ice and the bench, and a pipe shot by Brett Patterson ’16 sent a surge of fear over Starr Rink in Hamilton, New York. Another shot flirted with the crease but never crossed.

Time expired, and the final buzzer meant Dartmouth was eliminated from the playoffs by No. 16 Colgate University. The teams played two incredible games of hockey, killed penalties, took and doled out hard hits. It was the kind of series that, despite back-to-back losses, made itself worth nine-and-a-half hours of driving, sleeping in the house of some friendly strangers, surviving on Subway and Clif Bars.

As the players left the ice after a hard-fought series, it was time to begin writing the story. To do this, though, I needed more than the two post-game interviews I had managed to get, one from head coach Bob Gaudet and the other from Carl Hesler ’18. Yet without the clearance to get access to the team and those interviews — the amount of pull I actually have is analogous to the access a pigeon gets to the Oval Office — I set in motion a plan to write the story of the Big Green men’s hockey’s 2014-2015 season by asking players for permission to use past interviews or conversations that were had in passing, after we’d run into

each other in Collis or the Hop. Responses varied, of course, from “I trust you” to “No” without any further explanation. For my part, though, it was coming from desire to tell a story — partly about me, partly about them. I wanted the readers to know the players as I had come to know them, hear the things they say that don’t always make it into articles full of inspirational banter and gameplay strategy.

To be clear, the players and I are not necessarily friends — we run in what some might call “different social circles.” I likely won’t talk to many of the players until next winter, and I’m sure I won’t talk to most of them again after I leave Hanover. That, I think, is part of what makes me so grateful for this season.

My first interaction with the team came this past summer, when the juniors on the team were on campus for their sophomore summer. I was writing a story for Dartmouth Sports about Caleb Nelson, the Team Impact player with a rare gene deletion that disrupted his autonomic breathing function.

Nelson has become a fixture, a player and a brother of Big Green hockey, accepted by players like Josh Hartley ’17 who, according to Caleb’s mother Heather Nelson, texts him to say goodnight every night. I’ve seen Hartley sit with Caleb Nelson in the bleachers on some of the nights that he’s been scratched, leaning over to talk to him about things I’ve wondered but never asked about.

The team’s sports information director and assistant director of varsity athletics communication Pat Salvas directed me to Brad Schierhorn ’16 and Ryan Bullock ’16 as good athletes to interview for the article. I had never spoken to either of them, but after glancing at the team’s roster I remembered pointing to Bullock once in the Class of 1953 Commons and telling my friend, “That guy seriously looks like the quintessential hockey player.” This statement, long before I had entertained the idea of writing about the hockey team, marked the very first of many times that I was wrong. It’s not because Bullock isn’t a quintessential hockey player, but because at the time I didn’t even know what a “quintessential hockey player” really was.

GAYNE KALUSTIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The men’s hockey season ended when the team fell in two games to Colgate University in the ECAC quarterfinals.

Ryan Bullock identifies as a notoriously slow eater. His family nurses animals for the Humane Society. He loves animals and kids, he said last summer, and is a bigger fan of soccer than hockey.

I asked him about his family, how he got into hockey, what life was like in Minnesota. He comes from a lineage of athletes, he said.

“My parents did absolutely everything they could to help me with developing to becoming a better player,” he said.

Bullock has long, sometimeswild brown hair. Compared to the average person he’s tall, but the athlete doesn’t appear so looming when standing next to the other players on the team. He’s deceptively strong, with skating skills and balance that often make his work as a defenseman look effortless.

He’s a deadly shot from the blue line. In his interview this summer, he simply said he’s a “playmaker,” and I took him at his word. If I interviewed him again, I’d tell him how much he undersold himself.

Yet, for reasons unrelated to his personhood and personality, Bullock emerged as my favorite player to watch this season. He’s a cool guy, but I envy the way he moves on the ice, and his +6 rating puts

him among the top defensemen on the team.

In the spirit of honesty, I’ll admit to how little I really knew about hockey when I began the Nelson story. In my interview with Schierhorn, you can hear me admit that I did not really know who Sidney Crosby is. Now, of course, I realize what a ridiculous thing that is to suggest in the hockey world—sacrilegious, even.

“Come on, Gayne, he’s only like the best hockey player in the NHL,” Schierhorn laughed.

From that interview, which ranged from conversations about his past and his experience with Nelson to the difference between Alaska — his home state — and California — my home state — Schierhorn explained the journey for aspiring hockey players to billet families across the continent, the primacy of the USHL in the United States and the difference between major junior hockey and NCAA hockey. The choice, he said, was usually about education since historically major junior hockey had a greater graduation to professional hockey. He wasn’t talking about Dartmouth specifically, but purely by virtue of being a player in the NCAA, he was.

Schierhorn is the only junior who played on the top line with two-time captain Tyler Sikura ’15 and alternate captain Eric Robinson ’14. With 22 points this season, the athlete amassed more than any non-senior on the team, placing fourth overall. Amidst all players on the team, he became the most valuable source I would acquire all season long. He never gave up anything juicy about the team which isn’t that surprising, but he guided me as I tried to understand all the things that make hockey different from other sports —the dynamics on ice, the realities of checking, the rotating player systems, the penalty kill and power play strategies. Schierhorn answered all the questions I couldn’t find in books or ask the anchors of Hockey Central. His impact, though, has been difficult for me to work into stories, as it requires my concession of personal knowledge about a sport that I, on a whim after the Nelson story, decided I wanted to write about.

In between it all, he produced the single sentiment I held on to most from the season. He knew, he said, that it sounded like a made-up SEE HOCKEY PAGE 5