VOL. CLXXII NO. 120
MOSTLY SUNNY HIGH 64 LOW 41
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Men’s fraternity rush concludes College will send
“Community Study” to assess campus climate By BRIANA TANG The Dartmouth
Representatives of Bones Gate, Gamma Delta Chi, Kappa Kappa Kappa, Sigma Nu, Theta Delta Chi and Zeta Psi fraternities did not respond to requests for comment by press time. As opposed to the weeklong women’s recruitment process, men’s rush only takes place over the course of two evenings, and includes a “shakeout” during each eve-
The first-ever Dartmouth Community Study — a comprehensive survey that will ask questions about learning, working and living at the College — will be released to faculty, students and staff on Tuesday through the Provost’s Office, vice provost for academic initiatives Denise Anthony said. The survey will be released via email and will stay open from Oct. 6 to Nov. 3, Anthony said. A follow-up survey will be conducted again in the spring. A working group of 10 members — including College staff, faculty and a student representative — began meeting last spring and worked throughout the summer with the firm Rankin and Associates Consulting to create the survey, Anthony said. Rankin and Associates specializes in the study of campus climate at colleges and universities, Anthony said. It has administered surveys similar to the Dartmouth Community Study at more than 130 higher education institutions, according to the Provost Oficce’s website. In creating the survey, the working group reviewed Rankin and Associates’ previously used, validated set of survey questions and then tailored them to be more specific to the College. Rankin and Associates principal Susan Rankin de-
SEE RUSH PAGE 3
SEE SURVEY PAGE 5
SPORTS WEEKLY
FOOTBALL BEATS PENN IN IVY OPENER PAGE SW2
MEN’S SOCCER BEATS PRINCETON OPINION
JEON: HAMSTRUNG ON HAMSTER WHEELS PAGE 4
ARTS
ONE-WOMAN SHOW EXPLORES MUSLIM IDENTITY PAGE 7
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Students toured Webster Avenue this weekend as part of fraternity recruitment.
B y SONIA QIN The Dartmouth
Marked by new open house events and the absence of Alpha Delta fraternity, men’s fraternity recruitment concluded this weekend following two nights of shakeouts and deliberations. Overall, Interfraternity Council president Sam Macomber ’16 estimated that 350 men accepted bids. Twenty-seven men accepted bids at Alpha Chi
Alpha, 29 at Beta Alpha Omega, 37 at Chi Heorot, 36 at Sigma Phi Epsilon, 13 at Chi Gamma Epsilon, 30 at Phi Delta Alpha, 35 at Psi Upsilon and 35 at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternities, according to the president of each fraternity. With the exception of Chi Gam, all houses — of those who reported numbers — either increased or maintained the number of bids extended from last year.
CPD hosts career fair, formal corporate recruiting B y ANNA STAROPOLI The Dartmouth
With many members of the Class of 2016 searching for full-time jobs, the Center for Professional Development is aiding the search with its yearly formal recruiting process, a career fair and advising events to help students. Following positive responses from students last year, the career fair again featured a “service and education” room and a “startup and tech” room. The first round of deadlines for the recruiting program was Sept. 27,
and first round interviews will begin this Wednesday. The second round deadline is Oct. 12. The career fair, hosted on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21, presented students with the opportunity to interact with 134 employers and begin the initial stages of the job-search process. The CPD opened the event to all undergraduate and graduate students, but the majority of attendees were members of the Classes of 2016 and 2017, CPD senior associate director Monica Wilson said. Over the course of both days, a total of 1,412 students attended the
fair — though only 368 attended both days, Wilson said. This was a slight decrease from last year, when 1,489 students attended the fair. In 2013, 1,306 students attended the event. Wilson said the schedule of the event may explain the decline in attendance. The CPD organized the fair from noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, making it challenging for students with afternoon classes to attend. “Part of the problem was the class schedule on Wednesday, because we did have more students on Tuesday. I also think there was a sense that the
alumni hall was pretty crowded [on the first day] and that might have deterred people from coming the second day,” Wilson said. Wilson attributed the rise in attendance since 2013 to some changes made in the structure of the fair. When the CPD introduced a “service and education” room, as well as a “startup and tech” room in 2014, they received positive feedback, which prompted the continuation of those programs this year. “These were set up in response to student requests for more variety SEE CPD PAGE 2
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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DAily debriefing TheUpperValleyLakeSunapeeRegionalPlanningCommission is currently investigating the feasibility of establishing a bus service that runs along Interstate 89 from New London to Hanover and Lebanon, the Valley News reported. The study is motivated by requests from the residents of cities and towns south of Lebanon and Hanover, as well as the demands created by the growing populations of towns like Grantham, where a stop is proposed. Other proposed stops along the route include Enfield, downtown Lebanon, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and downtown Hanover. The project’s main challenges are providing adequate parking at bus stops, creating a schedule that works well for the majority of commuters and keeping the bus fare as low as possible. Regional officials remain optimistic. Several employers in the central Upper Valley region, including Hypertherm and Dartmouth College, have expressed support for the proposal. On Monday night, the Hanover Selectboard voted to extend its current franchise agreement with Comcast to the end of March to allow time for renegotiation, the Valley News reported. Town officials hope the service provider will extend coverage to the less populated areas of Hanover and Etna. Comcast generally does not provide service to areas with less than 20 households per square mile, which includes most of rural Etna. The Selectboard hopes Comcast will agree to extend its coverage at no cost to the town, but mentioned the possibility of helping to cover installation costs. Also at the Monday meeting, the board postponed a public hearing on proposed changes to street vendor ordinances and the application process for vendor locations downtown. The hearing will now be held on Oct. 19. Since the Vermont restaurant Worthy Burger shut down for four days as a result of possible E. coli contamination, several more cases of E. coli related illness have been reported, though the precise source remains unkown. Valley News reported that in addition to the nine cases associated with the Worthy Burger outbreak, the State Department of Health has seen four more E. coli cases in September. Out of the four patients, all treated at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, only one had eaten at Worthy Burger — but not until after the restaurant said it switched beef suppliers. The health department is now working on detecting the causes of these infections and identifying exposure sites of E. coli in the Upper Valley. According to the USDA, no firm link has been established between beef and the new outbreaks, but public health officials still advise heating beef to 155 degrees Fahrenheit before consumption. As of now, the USDA has not issued a recall but spokeswoman Gabrielle Johnston said that UDSA staff members are “working around the clock” on the case and has not ruled out the possibility of a future recall.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015
Students connect with employers FROM CPD PAGE 1
in employers,” Wilson said. “They were a big hit, so we decided to do it again.” Welson emphasized that employers at this event sought to inform students of potential jobs rather than outright recruit them. “It’s not a job fair where you submit a resume,” Wilson said. “It’s an opportunity for students to meet employers and learn more about what they do, what kind of opportunities they have and when they’re recruiting for.” David Bassali ’16, who attended the fair, felt that the best function of the event was its ability to provide information. “The event was used as a resource to answer questions,” Bassali said. “I don’t think it has a bearing on your job eligibility or your position. Its utility is derived if you have questions on the companies.” Other students have found these connections to be valuable. Abby Stevenson ’16 said the Employer’s Connection Fair gave her the chance to see what it would actually be like to work for certain companies. The personal interactions offered the opportunity to
understand the dynamics of potential jobs, she added. “It was good to be able to talk to the employers,” Stevenson said. “I was able to get a sense of their
“It’s not a job fair where you submit a resume. It’s an opportunity for students to meet employers and learn more about what they do, what kind of opportunities they have and when they’re recruiting for.” - CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SENIOR ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR MONICA WILSON companies and what the culture of those companies is like.” Stevenson also noted that the fair helped her organize her priori-
ties. “That helped me figure out before the deadlines which jobs I wanted to focus on so I could spend more time on those cover letters,” Stevenson said. “They’re definitely there as a resource if you’re somebody who wants to take them up on that.” Although the fair is not a direct form of recruitment, Matthew Ginsberg ’16, another fair attendee, said that the fair may have accelerated his recruitment prospects. “It’s cool to meet employers who are thinking about whether they want to give you an interview on campus, so the career fair lets you solidify your views on these firms and a good conversation with these firms may increase your chances,” he said. Ginsberg also highlighted issues with the timing of the fall recruitment activities. “The career fair is within a week of when you send in job applications,” Ginsberg said. “The timing isn’t the greatest because you need to get in your applications before then anyway.” CPD will continue to hold recruiting events throughout fall term.
— COMPILED BY LEINA MCDERMOTT
Corrections We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com. Clarification: In the Oct. 1 story “Amidst student criticism, admissions offers more information on new need-aware policy,” the emails interim dean of admissions and financial aid Paul Sunde sent clarifying the international admissions policy change were sent to The Dartmouth and were not publicly available. The students interviewed were responding to the public announcement of the policy, not the content of these emails. The story has been updated for clarification. Correction: In the same story, the article originally stated that Hassan Kiani ’16 created the sign-up sheet that the group circulated. The sign-up sheet was the result of a group effort, not Kiani’s individual actions. The story has been updated to reflect this. This article also originally stated that the students who met with Hanlon during his office hours felt that his responses were not satisfactory. The story has been updated to read that the students felt that the meeting was constructive, though it raised additional unanswered questions. The Dartmouth regrets these errors.
WEIJIA TANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The Center for Professional Development hosted a career fair on Sept. 20 and 21 to connect students to employers.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015
PAGE 3
IFC adds open house events, will track recruitment numbers believes that the open houses helped rushees select a house, which in turn made this year’s rush more organized. Barry Yang ’18 and Cesar Rufino ’18, who both participated in rush, agreed that the open houses helped ease the rush process. “They were definitely super helpful because rush can be awkward when you’re trying to make small talk with brothers you already know,” Rufino said. Yang added that chatting with fraternity members at the open houses and getting to know more about their experiences being Greek benefited him. “Before, I was on the fence about rushing,” Yang said. “I didn’t really have an idea of what Greek life was about other than the basement scene.” While Jaramillo said he is unsure whether or not the open house concept has been implemented at other colleges, he believes that the College’s Greek system is unique because rush takes place during sophomore fall, which allows fraternity brothers to form relationships with rushees before the actual rush process. He said, however, that the previous system was not as inclusive
FROM RUSH PAGE 1
ning. The shakeout occurs near the end of each night, when rushees head to their top choice house and shake the hands of all the brothers in that house to indicate their commitment to the fraternity. The fraternities then hold deliberations and offer bids the same night. While the overall men’s fraternity rush process has remained largely unchanged for decades, there were some alterations made this year, including the addition of open houses in the week prior to formal recruitment. “These open houses are meant to lower the threshold of discomfort for potential rushees,” IFC recruitment chair Felipe Jaramillo ’16 said. Jaramillo said he thinks it is easier for students to visit new houses if they feel like they have an explicit invitation. Before, sophomores were invited to indicate which houses they would be interested in visiting, and then the fraternities extended formal invitations. The open houses brought “more fresh faces to houses” and “cast a wider net” in terms of potential members, Jaramillo said. He also
The Environmental Studies Program invites you to attend the Africa Foreign Study Program Fall 2016 Open House
Monday, October 5, 2015 101 Fairchild 7:00 PM
Faculty as well as students from the 2014 FSP will be in attendance to share their experiences and answer questions.
Please visit us online at http://envs.dartmouth.edu/foreign‐study
as possible. “That’s what we’re really trying
“That’s what we’re really trying to do — to never force a house to take someone they don’t want to take, and to make sure that people aren’t falling through cracks because they don’t have preexisting connections or don’t feel comfortable just walking into any house.” - INTERFRATERNITY COUNCIL RECRUITMENT CHAIR FELIPE JARAMILLO ’16 to do — to never force a house to take someone they don’t want to take, and to make sure that people aren’t falling through cracks because they don’t have pre-existing connections or don’t feel comfort-
able just walking into any house,” he said. Another difference between this year’s rush and previous years was the absence of AD, which was derecognized by the College in the spring for violating College policies during the previous fall. When asked about the effect of one fraternity’s absence, Jaramillo was hesitant to comment without specific statistical comparison, but he suspects that the class sizes this year are slightly skewed. “I don’t really know if the houses’ response was to make [rush] more selective or to make the classes bigger, but it seems like the latter did happen,” he said. Some students found the process to be more laid-back, especially compared to the more formal women’s recruitment process, and said they appreciated the speedier nature of men’s recruitment. “The whole rush process was just going to the house and talking to brothers and so I was kind of saying the same things over and over again to different people, but it wasn’t very stressful,” Evan Griffith ’18 said. Not all sophomores found rush as relaxing as Yang and Griffith, however.
Rufino, who accepted a bid at Tri-Kap, said he found it difficult to decide to which fraternity to commit himself. Nonetheless, when he finally did make his choice, Rufino said he was satisfied. “Personally, I was just looking for a way to solidify my place on campus, and I think Tri-Kap is going to be perfect for that,” he said. When asked about advice he would give to current first-year men looking to rush next fall, Yang advised freshmen to not start thinking about rush until the spring, adding that there can sometimes be concerns regarding the time investment and paying dues. Rufino said men considering joining a fraternity should keep an open mind rather than allowing external influences to cloud judgement. “Ultimately, it’s where you want to be, where you’re most comfortable and where you think you’re going to succeed for the next two and a half years,” he said. All three sophomores, as well as Jaramillo, agreed that Greek life should not define one’s time at the College, and that enjoying one’s time in Hanover should not be contingent on Greek affiliation.
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015
CONTRIBUTING Columnist BEN SZUHAJ ’19
STAFF Columnist MIN KYUNG JEON ’16
On Remembrance
Hamstrung on Hamster Wheels
The Umpqua Community College shooting is an all-too-common national tragedy. On Thursday, Oct. 1, a gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College — a small school in Roseburg, Oregon — and killed nine people. Counting the shooter, who died by suicide, the death tally totaled 10 by the day’s end. “Let me be very clear, I will not name the shooter,” replied Sheriff John Hanlin, whose force was responsible for answering the shooting spree. “I will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act.” This was the correct response — in the face of tragedy, we should remember the victims instead of the murderer, and understand how these catastrophes affect us both as a nation and as individual people. Before I continue, I will pause for those of you who are tired of reading about this kind of tragedy. You are not alone. President Barack Obama, speaking to reporters at the White House late Thursday night, appealed to how seemingly commonplace these tragedies, and in return his responses, have become. “Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine,” Obama said. “My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it... We have become numb to this.” One can only imagine what it is like to be roused from sleep, interrupted during a meeting or briefed while spending time with his family — with his wife and soon-to-be-college age daughters — that yet another mass shooting has taken place on American soil. At an American college. At a place like Dartmouth. Before you take the logical jump of ruling out our community from being included with those affected, of drawing a divide between “us” and “them” in order to achieve a sense of safety, consider that this can happen anywhere and to anyone. There is no us or them. “This is so out of character for this whole area,” military analyst Rick Francona said to CNN. The same article described the college as a small school “that sits on a hill,” a description which should sound hauntingly familiar. It is common in the face of such tragedy for one to try to make sense out of the senseless. This is difficult — if not impossible — but in the case of the UCC shooting, we have the answer
to “why” the gunman committed the crime. On Aug. 31, he wrote in an online blog about the power of “spill[ing] a little blood.” He went on to elaborate that “a man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.” It sounds like a simple transaction, a numbers game that, if played right, will lead to fame — or infamy, although I do not think that this distinction matters to the killer. The problem with the way we conceptualize tragedy in the age of mass social media is that we reduce it to cold numbers. We take away the humanity and report a death toll before reciting a name which that will be remembered by history. This kind of reporting is part of the problem. It is not until you read deeper into the story that you realize in 2014, the average age of a student at Umpqua Community College was 38 — that of the nine people murdered on Thursday, whose ages ranged from 18 to 67, most of them likely had families. The people who were senselessly gunned down were husbands and wives, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and friends. They had people who loved them who will never see them again, because one man with many guns decided they should die. According to Gun Violence Archive, there have been 265 mass shootings in America this year alone. I do not care how much you value your right to bear arms, whether it is for sport or for show — there is nothing honorable about owning an assault rifle. You do not need incendiary bullets to hunt deer. You do not need armor-piercing shells to defend yourself. If you wish to own a musket, go ahead. A man with a musket cannot kill 20 first-graders. Until we do something meaningful as a nation to staunch the biweekly flow of blood from our schools, we can respond only with ever-more desolate sympathy to the news of yet another tragedy — almost robotically, as the rest of the world watches our inaction become something grotesque.
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We must reflect on our own hypocrisies and behaviors to change Dartmouth culture.
The quintessential Dartmouth student has a across divergent backgrounds and prevents double major in economics and geography or the formation of a real, far-reaching sense of some such eclectic combination, partakes in an community. Gradually confined in our selfintense club sport — if he or she are not already selective “squads,” we lose the ability to be a varsity athlete — and nonchalantly receives truly open to and vulnerable with others in all hundreds of likes on improbably “candid” our weird, nerdy, mortifying and excruciating Facebook profile pictures of themselves at their glory. Elusive yet insidious, Dartmouth’s culture Greek house’s formal, all the while not neglecting lionizes frat stars at the expense of those who to call their parents once a week. On a campus frequent the library on weekends, promotes the where “A-side” and “B-side” adopt an overtone feel-good rhetoric of diversity and inclusion that more sinister than their original reference to the rings hollow in the face of the homogeneous two surfaces of a music recording, we often feel demographics of numerous Greek houses and pressured to jump on the bandwagon for myriad strangely discourages people from continuing pursuits without giving due consideration to intellectual conversations outside the classroom. alternatives. It is a platitude that college students are In my first year, the single most overheard and stressed in a variety of ways. It is an even more overwhelming sentence was, “Are you going out tiresome cliché that Dartmouth students are this weekend?” Sophomore year, I rushed with highly accomplished and competitive — and the vast majority of ’16 women, many of whom that precisely these admirable attributes some— like I — had previously disavowed the very times result in mental health issues. But this concept of a sorority. Junior year, I temporar- does not mean that we should not continually ily reveled in the pretense of cosmopolitanism examine the sources of these problems to amethat my foreign study program liorate the harmful effects. in London afforded me, In the ever-spinbut upon my return to the “In the ever-spinning ning wheels of DartCollege, promptly became wheels of Dartmouth’s mouth’s social milieu, jaded. Only several weeks social milieu, we often we often play the part into senior year, “SWUG” play the part of hamsters, of hamsters, frantically has already entered my frantically pedaling and pedaling and conflatparlance — the irony not ing complacency with conflating complacency lost on my inner critic who happiness. The prewith happiness. The knows how desperately I vailing wisdom of pop want to make my last year prevailing wisdom of pop psychology tells us to psychology tells us to love love ourselves, but at count. By word of mouth, crip- ourselves, but at the same the same time, we must pling depression and social time, we must constantly constantly reflect on anxiety permeate this cam- reflect on our values our values and default pus. In my ongoing struggle and default cognitive cognitive processes. For against these demons and processes.” example, when we jusfrom my conversations with tify the selection mechasimilarly situated individunisms of prestigious a als, I have located a cause in cappella groups and Dartmouth’s hyper-competitive and –conform- Greek houses that leave some deeply alienated ist culture. This culture looks on with distaste as inevitably selective like Dartmouth itself, we when a student enthusiastically contributes to gloss over the fact that meritocracy is hard to discussions in a “layup” class, adamantly avoids approximate for some of us. eye contact with acquaintances for no other It is with wry acknowledgement that I issue reason than potential awkwardness and remains these correctives, for I have been complicit in willfully indifferent to those in unconventional many exclusionary practices on campus. But the and undervalued communities like coeduca- first step to sustainable cultural change lies with tional Greek houses and minority affinity groups. self-reflection and self–criticism. The reassuring I am naturally verbose and sensitive, attuned attribute of any culture is its profound malleto others’ emotions to a fault. For instance, I ability. Culture is not some monolithic behemoth invariably reread my sent emails and occasion- that defines and confines us. Currently, many ally compose follow-ups if I think the recipient of us in our individual cliques are as warm, might be hurt by my prior message. Over my friendly and welcoming as can be — but with three years here, however, I have come to a those at the margins or outside of those cliques, wrenching realization that most people do not we are often inadvertently cold, exclusive and reciprocate even a fraction of the care I invest insular. By facing our own inner hypocrisies and in interacting with them. Blitzes inviting “uni- contradictions, we can close chasms between corns” to meals have gone unanswered, tentative far-flung communities. smiles across the lecture room have met blank So next time you spot a long-estranged Tripstares and attempts at dialogue in my sorority pee across the Green, simply say hello. The next and upperclassman dormitory have dissipated time you hear a classmate make an insightful with perfectly cordial yet decidedly guarded comment during a discussion, approach her responses. after class to continue the conversation. The Granted, expecting others to be exactly like next time you automatically assign greater me in their modes of communication would social value to that cool, “relevant” frat-dude amount to tyranny. Nevertheless, I believe that ’16 over that reserved but kind undergraduate something in the collective psyche of Dart- advisor whose floor meetings announcements mouth students inhibits genuine interactions you always ignore, pause and think.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015
Survey will be released Tuesday FROM SURVEY PAGE 1
clined to comment for this article, directing inquiries to Anthony. Office of Pluralism and Leadership interim director and working group member Reese Kelly said that the goal of the survey is to learn more about “day-to day life” at the College. The Community Study is “one of the most comprehensive data collection instruments we’re using at the College and that we’ve ever used at the institution” to learn about campus climate, he said. The survey will ask students, faculty and staff questions in myriad areas, spanning from experiences in the classroom to off-campus settings, asking about both positive experiences and those of bias and harassment, Anthony said. Kelly said that he hopes that the faculty can use the information to learn how better serve students and build a more comprehensive understanding of life on campus. Additionally, he said that the survey may allow the College to better prioritize certain tasks in the future. Oscar Cornejo Jr. ’17 — the student representative on the working group — wrote in an email that the survey could be critical in understanding the current campus climate. Cornejo wrote that since the results will be distributed to campus, students will be able to see, “without filters,” the areas in which
“we completely fail and where we succeed.” He added that the survey is critical to the future of Dartmouth for all sectors of the College community.
“There have been recommendations for doing a climate study for about 10 years from various groups on campus over time, so I think it’s part of ‘Moving Dartmouth Forward,’ but it also, I think, comes out of recommendations from lots of groups on campus.” - VICE PROVOST FOR ACADEMIC INITIATIVES DENISE ANTHONY He added that he hopes the survey will prompt administrators, and in particular high-level administrators, “to make changes at Dartmouth beyond what we are currently implementing.” Another goal of the Community Study is to gauge the effect of the “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy changes between now and
when an additional study is conducted in two years, Anthony said. In particular, Anthony said that since the new residential community system will be implemented next fall, the results of this year’s survey will provide a benchmark from which to measure any changes. While the study was introduced as a part of “Moving Dartmouth Forward,” the idea of conducting a climate study is not new, Anthony said. “There have been recommendations for doing a climate study for about 10 years from various groups on campus over time, so I think it’s part of ‘Moving Dartmouth Forward,’ but it also, I think, comes out of recommendations from lots of groups on campus,” she said. The Community Study differs greatly from the Association of American Universities survey that was released last month, Kelly said. The Community Study includes a far wider range of data and focuses on faculty and staff as well as students, he said, though it does still include some questions about sexual harassment. The study will be in the format of a close-ended survey with room at the end for participants to provide optional open-ended responses, Anthony said. Additionally, it will provide links to on- and off-campus resources throughout that participants can contact with concerns or questions, or to discuss their experience with the survey, she said.
AUTUMN HARFEST
PREETI RISHI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Students enjoyed fresh cider and snacks at the Organic Farm’s “Harfest” on Friday afternoon.
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HACK IS WACK
PREETI RISHI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Students generated ideas and presented them at Dartmouth Hackathon.
The study will be voluntary and confidential, Anthony said. Participants are not required to answer all questions, but only surveys that are 50 percent completed or more will be analyzed. The survey will not ask participants to disclose their names, but they will be asked to identify themselves as staff, faculty or students and will be asked questions specific to their respective category, she said. “Sometimes people think that they should only fill out the survey if they’ve had a bad experience in one area, or the other, and I think its so important for us to understand what the experience is like for everyone, for more people to take it,” Kelly said. The Provost’s Office expects that the survey should take 15 to 20 minutes to complete. To maintain confidentiality, the survey will not use individualized URLs or save answers over time, according to Provost’s Office. Because of this, the survey must be completed in a single sitting. Additionally, any
personally identifiable comments shared in open-responses will not be publicly shared in the survey report. Upon completing the survey, participants will be eligible to enter a raffle for gift certificates to local restaurants and gatherings with College President Phil Hanlon and Provost Carolyn Dever or an iPad Air. Faculty and staff who complete the survey will also be eligible to enter a drawing for a free on-campus parking space for one term, according to the Provost’s Office. For those who cannot access the online survey on a personal device, the Provost’s Office will set up computers in Paganucci Lounge and the instructional center in Baker-Berry Library at different times during the survey period. Participants can also receive the survey in alternative format from the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity. The survey results will be available to the public in spring 2016.
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THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015
DARTMOUTH EVENTS TODAY 4:30 p.m. “‘Iffat al-Thunaynan (1916-2000): An Arabian Queen” with Dr. Joseph A. Kéchichian, Haldeman 041
5:00 p.m. Academic’s economic future series with former New York Governor George Pataki, Raether Hall, Georgiopoulos Classroom
7:30 p.m. Argentine tango and dance class for intermediates and beginners, Sarner Underground
TOMORROW 12:00 p.m. “An Appreciation of Robert Caldwell’s Contributions to Cosmology,” physics and astronomy seminar, Wilder 202
3:30 p.m. “Proton Acceleration at Injection Fronts in the Inner Magnetosphere,” Wilder 111
4:15 p.m. “Understanding Egocentric Images, for Fun and Science,” presented by David Crandall, Moore B03
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015
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“The Martian” finds Ridley Scott new life on Mars planet. Astronaut-botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is struck by The Dartmouth Staff debris and left for dead. Hours later, With “Gravity” (2013) and “In- he awakens to a desolate, crew-less terstellar” (2014) firmly dominating Martian tundra. Like an extraterresthe epic extraterrestrial disaster trial “Cast Away” without a Wilson, genre, it is a suicide mission to enter Watney is only accompanied by his their orbit for enormous ego fear of entering “Like an and “must scithat black hole ence the [expleextraterrestrial of comparison. tive] out of this” Director Rid- ‘Cast Away’ without to survive. ley Scott takes Wilson, Watney is Suron this chalvive he does. A lenge with his only accompanied muscular Mac“The Martian” by his enormous ego Gyver, Watney (2015), based makes science and ‘must science on Andy Weir’s sexy, guiding us e p o n y m o u s the [expletive] out of through water 2011 novel and this’ to survive.” creation, botany, crafts a lightnuclear energy hearted thrilland radio transride with enough missions. Unlike pace and levity his “Interstellar” to escape the genre’s event horizon. character, Damon’s Watney main The film opens with the Ares III tains an indefatigable hopefulness mission performing data surveys on as if Mars had become his quasiMars when a massive windstorm vacation home, which precludes any strikes, and the crew escapes to their cabin fever psycho-dramatics. Only Hermes spaceship to evacuate the an empty ketchup bottle seems to
B y andrew Kingsley
unnerve him, leaving his potatoes painfully ungarnished. His good humor keeps him, and the film, alive, brightening potentially arid scenes with fist pumps and wise cracks. Back on Earth, Watney receives a hero’s martyrdom until a NASA scientist notices on a satellite feed the Martian base has been rearranged. After the initial disbelief and media fiasco, the hometown NASA team (including Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig and Chiwetel Ejiofor) rallies to send Watney a supply rocket to sustain him until the next mission, Ares IV, arrives four years later. Their haste makes waste, however, as the rocket explodes upon liftoff, dashing Watney’s hopes until the China National Space Agency steps in to lend their payload rocket. While the motivations and politics of this move are dubious, it transforms the film into an international humanitarian affair, akin to tsunami or earthquake relief efforts. In a vision of comradeship, China and the United States team up in nationalist pride to save their stranded hostage with their rockets’ red glare.
When it becomes clear that to Wadi Rum, Jordan, after “ProWatney will not be rescued in metheus” (2012) to film the region’s rusty, Martian time, however, terrain, and crethe Her mes ates a veritable crew must turn “It’s the type of scene coffee table book around to save young kids can watch of sandstone vistheir hero, now and say, ‘I want to be tas and desolate a spectacle on landscapes. You Times Square an astronaut.’” don’t need 3-D mega-screens. to enhance this The final rescue beauty — unscene provides all the explosions and nail-biting fortunately the only thing the 3-D thrill-seekers have been craving for enhanced was the ticket price. two hours in a ballet of geeky sci- While the tagline may say, “Help ence, ingenuity and Watney swagger. is only 140 million miles away,” It’s the type of scene young kids Scott fills that vacuum of space with can watch and say, “I want to be an the resolve and hope of humanity. Indeed, Ridley Scott has turned his astronaut.” Beyond the action, Scott brings beat around, creating a thrill ride fresh air with his 1950s inspired sans the nihilism of his “Alien” (1979) disco score, with highlights such as and “Prometheus” that reminds us “Turn the Beat Around” and “I Will that outer space isn’t just an entropic Survive,” which replace the tradi- deathtrap, but also a playground. tionally visceral, colossal scores of “Interstellar” and “Gravity.” These Rating: 8.5/10 remove the yoke of the traditionally freighted outer space soundtrack and “The Martian” is now playing at bring life and pop to the barrenness The Nugget Theater in 2-D at 6:40 of space. Ridley Scott also returns p.m. and in 3-D at 4 p.m.
One-woman shows explores Muslim-American identity
B y amelia rosch
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
Contemporary comedians have increasingly explored political and social issues. From comedian Amy Schumer’s critiques of popular culture) to “The Daily Show” (1996) correspondent Aasif Mandvi’s social commentray a range of topics from religion to relationships have been worked through in comedy. Iranian-American comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh explores how politics intersects with comedy in her one-woman show “All Atheists are Muslim,” which she performed on Friday at the Hopkins Center. The show is based on her experience introducing her now-husband to her parents, Noorbakhsh said. “[It] is about when I was 25 years old and I moved in with my whitey-white, white, white, white, atheist, infidel, non-believing boyfriend — now husband — who wasn’t my husband at the time and telling my Iranian-Muslim parents about it and seeing the arguments that ensued,” she said. She said that the show puts a lot of focus on her relationship with her father, before and after revealing her boyfriend to him. She said that not leading a “double life” was important to her at the time, since her parents had raised her to be authentic. “It did a lot of things for me and my family,” she said. “I already had a really close relationship with
my family, which is why I couldn’t reconcile not telling them about moving in with [my boyfriend]. I really wanted to be able to have that conversation.” She said that she also wants “All Atheists are Muslim” to explore and skewer stereotypes about Muslim-American families. Noorbakhsh, who describes herself as a “feminist, Muslim Iranian-American comedian,” said that the material in the show was autobiographical, coming from the conversations between herself, her parents and her boyfriend. Hop publicity coordinator Rebecca Bailey said that Noorbakhsh was selected as one of the Hop’s performers for the fall term because of the breadth of ideas she explores. Bailey said that a large part of Noorbakhsh’s appeal comes from her ability to discuss the complexity of identities while still remaining humorous. “There are a lot of people that are attributing thoughts to Muslims that they are not actually having,” she said. “To actually hear from somebody who is exploring this, who has that identity, is very important. And she’s tremendously funny and insightful about it too. She hits all of those sweet spots.” Noorbakhsh said that the show is the first piece that she developed as a solo comedian. She developed it over the course of a year, and most of the show was improvised,
based on audience reaction, be- discovery” for her. cause she struggled to put down Noorbakhsh said she feels like the show is able to speak to a broad her words on paper. “It was too scary to write it,” swath of people because its themes she said. “It was easier just to say have some universality. “In part it developed simply beit.” She originally began working cause it was the first story that was on the piece in a workshop with important to me, and I could feel that there comedian W. was a real Kamau Bell, “In part it developed simply audience who asked hungry her how she because it was the first for that balanced her story that was important s t o r y, family and that narher boyfriend to me, and I could feel that rative,” and helped there was a real audience she said. to “midwife” hungry for that story, that “It also the show. marked “ I t o l d narrative. It also marked for me a him the basic for me a moment where I moment story of how it was that I actually really started to feel w h e r e I actutold my par- like my own person.” ally really ents about started to my atheist, feel like infidel then- - Zahra Noorbakhsh, my own boyfriend,” Comedian person.” she said. “He Noorimmediately bakhsh just said, said that while she has always ‘That’s your show.’” She said that she was initially been a comedian, her father was worried that her show was too the original inspiration behind her specific and would not appeal comedy because she valued his to a general audience. She said laughter so much. She said her first that since that conversation, she stand up performance was based has performed the show for over around stories of her father at a 10,000 people. She said that get- talent show for the Iranian Student ting to perform the show for such a Cultural Organization during her large group of people from diverse time at University of California at backgrounds has been an “act of Berkeley.
“My dad was there, laughing and crying,” she said. “I wanted to know how I can do this.” She said that she knew she wanted to be a comedian after she bombed her first professional show and still wanted to perform. Maieda Janjua ’17, a board member of the College’s Muslim student association Al-Nur, said that the group had dinner with Noorbakhsh Thursday night, as well as an impromptu visit to Everything But Anchovies after Noorbakhsh’s second show on Friday. She said they discussed their individual relationships with Islam. Janjua said she enjoyed Noorbakhsh’s sense of humor and the way she defies stereotypes around Muslim women. “My favorite thing about her was how personable she was and that she became buddies with us right away,” she said. “She is definitely not a Muslim woman in the way the media presents us, as weak and shy. She was so strong and loud and independent and funny.” In addition to her comedy show, Noorbakhsh also co-hosts a podcast called “#GoodMuslimBadMuslim” that explores the female Muslim experience in America, and has had a series of other stand-up shows. While at the College, Noorbakhsh also spoke to religion and women, gender and sexulaity studies’ classes.
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ARTS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2015
New Hood exhibit displays collectors’ shared interests
B y katherine schreiber The Dartmouth Staff
A small television sits next to a stack of playing cards. Nearby, an Andy Warhol print of an electric chair hangs near a wooden stag’s head. A marble bust is displayed on an old, cracked cabinet, and on the wall there is sketch of a dancer by John Singer Sargent. These diverse pieces are all part of the Hood’s new exhibition, “Collecting and Sharing: Trevor Fairbrother, John T. Kirk and the Hood Museum of Art,” which showcases the collection of scholar John T. Kirk and curator Trevor Fairbrother. The exhibition includes approximately 140 paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs and furniture pieces from the Kirk-Fairbrother collection. Among the artists represented in the show are Andy Warhol, John Singer Sargent, Sol LeWitt, Robert Gober and Elizabeth Peyton. The exhibition is divided into seven themed sections — histories, wonders, goods, marks, males, geometries and surfaces. This categorical organization invites the viewer to examine relationships between objects, as well as between objects and their section, Hood associate director and curator Katherine Hart said. The categories are somewhat fluid, as objects are not necessarily limited to one section, Hart said. “There are these relationships and moments that are created throughout the exhibition where you’re looking at and thinking about the objects in relation to the theme,” she said. In addition to pieces from collections of Fairbrother and Kirk, each section also includes one work from the Hood’s permanent collection, Hart said. Emily Neely ’17, who visited the gallery on Wednesday, thought that the museum’s choice to organize the pieces thematically made the exhibition more engaging. “It was interesting how they brought together different works that were unified by theme — it made you pay a lot more attention to the different aspects of the work,” Neely said. Neely liked that the show included pieces from the Hood’s permanent collection. “I think it was a good choice to pull one of the Hood’s existing works for each theme,” she said. “I personally liked recognizing some of the pieces.”
Neely said that she had seen Alice Neel’s “Portrait of Daniel Algis Alkaitis” in the Bernstein Study-Storage Center during a “Painting 1” class last year. Kirk, an early American decorative arts curator and scholar, and Fairbrother, a 19th- and 20th-century American and contemporary art curator and scholar, have been collecting together since the mid-1970s. After working with the Hood on several projects starting in the 1980s, they approached the museum about donating works to its permanent collections. Since 2010 they have given 52 pieces to the museum. Although they had no special affinity with the College, the collectors were interested in the Hood’s commitment to education. “They were very much drawn to the idea that the collections would be used for teaching,” Hart said. One of the museum’s primary goals is to make its collection accessible students, professors and the general community, Hart said. In addition to the works displayed in the galleries, the museum also draws out between 2,000 and 3,000 works in Bernstein each year. This term, classes from 30 different departments will visit “Collecting and Sharing.” Studio art professor Colleen Randall, who visited the show with her “Drawing 1,” “Drawing 2” and “Drawing 3” classes, said that the exhibition showcased a variety of contemporary artists and drawing methods. “I thought it showed a really wide range of how artists used drawing in their practice,” Randall said. “It provided a lot of discussion about what purpose drawing serves in the artist’s practice.” She said that the marks section, in particular, showed the different ways that marks can be used on the page. Marks includes drawings by Warhol, Sargent and Gober. In addition to engaging visitors visually, the exhibition also delves into other disciplines and examines social issues. The males section addresses issues of gender, sexuality and masculinity. Catherine Opie’s photograph “Richard” is part of her series of portraits of friends in the LGBTQ community, made in the 1990s. The section also includes an early portrait by Andy Warhol and several photomontages by John O’Reilly. In one piece, O’Reilly superimposes a picture of Christ’s legs from Diego
Velasquez’s Christ Crucified onto a photograph of two choir boys. The histories section contains several traditional works, including several pieces of early American furniture, and it also includes works that challenge conventional views of history and art. Jonathan Borofsky’s painting of an upside-down flower vase pokes fun at the style and subject matter of traditional American painting. In a piece called “Reconstructed History,” Mike Kelley draws vulgar cartoons over old textbook illustrations, questioning the glorification of American history. Furniture plays an important role throughout the exhibition. Kirk has advocated against stripping or refurbishing antique furniture. The pieces in “Collecting and Sharing”
are often worn-down and even broken — a chest of drawers in the surfaces section has lost much of its paint and is cracked at the bottom edge. A wooden rod holds the chest’s front legs together. On Sept. 25, Kirk led a talk in the galleries called “Early American Furniture: Understanding Designs and Appreciating Surfaces” with his former student, Karen Keane, in which he discussed how to look at and care for early American furniture. The exhibition also provides a glimpse into the lives of Fairbrother and Kirk. The collectors talked about their collection as objects they wished to live with, Hart said. “[Kirk] and [Fairbrother] are collecting things that interested them at different times in their life. They’re not
necessarily collecting as you would if you were a very wealthy person. A lot of this collection comes out of their relationship with the artist or from things that have interested them in their careers,” she said. The relationship between Kirk and Fairbrother underlies the entire exhibition. “This is a collection that they have built together,” Hart said. “These are things that come out of their combined interests and their interest together as collectors.” On Oct. 28, Fairbrother will give a talk called “Andy Warhol = Nobody’s Fool,” in which he will discuss Warhol’s legacy, based on his own friendship with the artist. The exhibition runs from Aug. 22 through Dec. 6.
Courtesy of the Hood Museum of Art
Two chairs featured in the “Collecting and Sharing” exhibition at the Hood Museum of Art.