VOL. CLXXII NO. 130
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Martin O’Malley visits campus, discusses campaign
SUNNY HIGH 45 LOW 38
By PARKER RICHARDS The Dartmouth Staff
PAULA MENDOZA/THE DARTMOUTH
SPORTS
FOOTBALL WINS LAST NONCONFERENCE PAGE SW2
OPINION
ALSTON: STYLE WITHOUT SUBSTANCE PAGE 4
ARTS
GRITS AND GUTS ON AN IPHONE 5S
Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley is struggling to poll above two percent in New Hampshire — the nation’s first primary state — but he presented a confident front at a speech with Dartmouth students and Upper Valley residents on Friday. “I know when a man stands before you with two percent national name recognition and tells you he’s running for president and it’s going well, that there’s a fine line between delusion and imagination,” O’Malley said on Friday. Judging by his Dartmouth following on social media,
The Top of the Hop was packed on Friday when presidential candidate Martin O’Malley (D) talked.
SEE O’MALLEY PAGE 5
College will launch Conference talks MOOCS online loan profile B y BRIANA TANG The Dartmouth
B y CAROLINE BERENS The Dartmouth Staff
As national concern mounts over the amount of student loan debt faced by recent college graduates, student loan offices are not frequently applauded for their transparency. But with transparency in mind,
the financial aid office will launch an online loan profile on Bannerstudent this coming week where students can view their loans and projected repayment, financial aid director Dino Koff said. This tool marks one step SEE LOANS PAGE 2
Faculty from Dartmouth, Harvard University, Colgate University and the University of Pennsylvania convened at the College last Friday to share their experiences with teaching massive open online courses in the humanities and to discuss what it means to teach the humanities to a global audience. The event, “Catalyzing
Community: A Humanities Symposium on Digital Learning and Education,” came out of a deep interest in learning how to improve online learning and pedagogies in the humanities, English professor James Dobson said in his opening remarks. The symposium featured six presentations with two question-and-answer sessions. Each speaker presented his or her own experiences with teaching MOOCs —
massive open online courses — in the humanities, highlighting the approaches which did and did not work well and what they have learned from teaching an online course that they can apply to the residential classroom. Music professor Steve Swayne and English professor Donald Pease also spoke at the event. SEE MOOCS PAGE 3
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Tuck alum announces campaign for governor B y SONIA QIN
The Dartmouth
When Colin Van Ostern Tu’09 moved to New Hampshire in 2001 as a young man in his early 20s, he had never lived in a single place for more than four years. It was his 18th residence. “[New Hampshire] was first place I set down roots. I found a community
WE COULD BE HEROES
where people really care for each other. I really believe it’s the best place in the country to raise a family or start a business,” Van Ostern, who is running as a democratic candidate for governor of New Hampsire, said. He made the announcement two days after Governor Maggie Hassan (D) announced that she will run for the ZOE WANG/THE DARTMOUTH
SEE VAN OSTERN PAGE 3
College students and Upper Valley residents ran to raise money for CHaD.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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DAily debriefing Dartmouth received the Honored Institution Award for its delivering, monitoring and reporting of weather data on Sept. 17, the College announced. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service presented it to the College for its 125 years of uninterrupted weathering monitoring. This uninterrupted reporting comes from Dartmouth’s ruler-in-thecollection-tube rain gauge. While Dartmouth has been changing over to recording data electronically, it stands by its more traditional take on gaging rainfall. The NWS finds Dartmouth’s accurate data useful when tracking climate change. New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence is a Concord-based nonprofit organization that engaged former Florida governor Jeb Bush this past Thursday on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault, the Concord Monitor reported. In the hour-long roundtable discussion with Bush and various New Hampshire officials and experts, people gave their ideas and opinions and then Bush followed with his thoughts and a greater explanation of the work he did in Florida while governor. Bush also brought up the incident surrounding Ray Rice and his suspension after a video of him assaulting his fiancée in an elevator surfaced. The NFL suspended Rice for two games and then later decided to suspend him indefinitely. Bush commented, “The NFL is an incredible brand and very successful. But I think they mishandled this. They didn’t know how this plays out.” This is the first candidate event and was scheduled during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The month is created to spread awareness of the issues surrounding domestic violence. Amanda Grady Sexton, the coalition’s Public Policy Director attended the discussion and commented, “We heard a lot of survivors and those working in the field…They want to know more about where the candidates stand on those issues. We have such a unique opportunity here in New Hampshire to do that.” Liberty Utilities has said that it would cost approximately $25 million to make a natural gas depot and distribution pipeline for Lebanon and Hanover, the Valley News reported. The construction would take an estimated five years. EnergyNorth Natural Gas, New Hampshire’s biggest natural gas distribution utility, is a part of Liberty Utilities and is competing with Valley Green Natural Gas, which is based in Hanover, to be the main natural gas utility in Lebanon and Hanover. Throughout the Upper Valley, there have been a number of major businesses to talk of changing to natural gas but few have committed to either company. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has not formally expressed more interest in one proposal. DHMC director of engineering services Steven Cutter said that DHMC supports the creation of a local piped gas service but that the organization does not know the full costs and therefore cannot make a final decision about whether they support the proposed pipeline. Valley Green’s president, Jay Campion, has commented on Liberty’s proposal saying, “The time lines are crazy. Extremely unrealistic.” On Oct. 21, there will be a forum in Hanover to discuss whether bringing natural gas to the region would be useful at all. — COMPILED BY ALYSSA MEHRA
Corrections We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com. The Oct. 15 story “Sticky Fingers” ran an accompanying photo of a student exiting the Class of 1953 Commons with her food to-go. The Dartmouth would like to clarify that this student was not stealing, but rather that the photo was included to illustrate the FoCo to-go option — a common source of theft issues for Dartmouth Dining Services. The Dartmouth regrets this miscommunication.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
Collegeaimstobetransparentaboutloans FROM LOANS PAGE 1
in the College’s efforts to provide transparency to student loan recipients. As challenges associated with student loans receive greater notoriety, students and experts reflected on the College’s efforts to provide information on loan packages to help students avoid fraudsters or imprudent financial planning. Koff said that this tool marks a collaborative effort between administrative computing and the financial aid offices at the College, the Tuck School of Business and the Geisel School of Medicine. He said that these groups aim to help students better navigate their finances at “the touch of a button.” In particular, when students sign promissory notes, Koff wants students to be aware of the legal conditions to which they are bound in the future. Koff explained that financial aid packages — which approximately half of students at the College receive — contain some combination of scholarships or loans, depending on the student’s demonstrated need. These loans can be institutional, meaning specific to the College, or federal. A female member of the Class of 2016 who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the subject explained that although the student would prefer to receive scholarship money only, the burden of loans can be mitigated through efforts of the College. “Having loans that you eventually will have to repay obviously isn’t ideal, but there are some ways Dartmouth tries to soften the blow, certainly,” she said. Student loan ombudsman for American Student Assistance Grace Bartini said student loans have become such a controversial subject because, besides their increasing prevalence in higher education, students often borrow money when they are young and may not be fully informed about the repayment process. Bartini said some students fall victim to scammers who charge people for information about potential loan forgiveness. She said this is information is always accessible for free, and there are plenty of resources to use. “Know what you’re getting into, know what needs to be done when you graduate or withdraw from school. Take advantage of the options out there, keep all of your documents, talk to the right people,” Bartini said, noting that financial aid offices can serve as a useful resource. Ultimately, as much responsibility as students have, it is on the part of the loan providers to be
as organized, straightforward and cognizant as well. “The goal is no surprises,” Koff said. Koff said the financial aid office makes efforts to be as transparent as possible with students regarding loan information. He described online counseling students must do to see their loans’ interest rates and repayment programs. He and student financial services loan specialist Nancy Gray also described the exit process that students receiving loans must go through when they graduate or leave the College, which entails a student updating his or her information online and reviewing
“In general, the financial [aid] office has been very transparent about what’s expected of me in the future. It helps shoulder a bit of the burden. I’m worried about being able to repay my loans, but I’m not worried about Dartmouth swindling me or anything like that.” - AN ANONYMOUS MEMBER OF THE CLASS OF 2016 repayment information. This aims to keep students informed and aware, Gray said. “We give them a repayment schedule so they can see how much they borrowed and approximately how much in finance charges they’ll incur, as well as what their monthly payments are and when their first payment is due,” Gray explained. Koff explained that although loans are not as exciting as a scholarship, there are “favorable terms” to some of these institutional loans. “Along with hopefully getting some scholarship, we’re really fortunate to offer institutional loans and federal options,” Koff said. “This is advantageous because some of our institutional loans are subsidized, which means the College is picking up the interest while you’re in school.” Bartini agreed, noting that with a more substantial endowment comes greater flexibility in offerings to students in terms of institutional loans and grant money. “Definitely Ivy League institutions or those with high endow-
ments can give good packages to a students,” Bartini said. Koff said that generally, from a purely financial standpoint, this makes the College a more attractive option than many other schools. “To have a resource in these loans, many times we can make the cost of education more affordable than at some other schools that may even cost less,” Koff said. Bartini qualified Koff ’s statement, explaining that although this is sometimes the case, other times a school’s cost of tuition is so low that it eliminates this possibility. She said students and their families must carefully weigh all financial aid packages from schools to which they have been accepted to make a decision. The member of the Class of 2016 noted her support for the online tool, noting that she was “very impressed” by the idea. Bartini said that in her experience, the College and its counterparts make similar efforts for clarity surrounding loans with students. “I think Dartmouth and other elite institutions are very happy to go through everything with students, with the media, with anyone, to be as transparent as they can be,” Bartini said. The anonymous member of the Class of 2016 said she has been largely satisfied with the financial aid office’s transparency and honesty about the student loan process. “In general, the financial [aid] office has been very transparent about what’s expected of me in the future. It helps to shoulder a bit of the burden,” she said. “I’m worried about being able to repay my loans, but I’m not worried about Dartmouth swindling me or anything like that.” A male member of the Class of the 2018 who also asked to remain anonymous said that the College should consider channeling more money into its financial aid office if it wants to be competitive with other top schools. “From a purely objective standpoint, if you’re concerned about finances, if you’re between Harvard [University] and Dartmouth, you’re going to go where you’re paying less,” he said. He explained that situations like this might account for the College’s lower yield rate than other Ivy League schools. The member of the Class of 2016 said that while having no loans would be ideal, students at the College are still lucky in the financial help they receive. “I think they do what they can with what they have,” she said of the financial aid office. “Yes, tuition is incredibly high, but we’re also receiving an incredible education.”
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Van Ostern wants to Schools explore humanities MOOCs prioritize people in N.H. FROM MOOCS PAGE 1
FROM VAN OSTERN PAGE 1
U.S. Senate next year. Van Ostern moved to Hanover with his girlfriend, who was enrolled in the Tuck School of Business. For a year, he worked at Tuck in public relations before deciding to earn his own master of business administration degree at Tuck. At Tuck, Van Ostern learned about different factors influencing the United States economy and the effect of climate change on business. Tuck Professor Sydney Finkelstein, who taught Van Ostern in a first-year course, “The Analysis for General Managers,” said that Van Ostern carried himself in a professional way. Finkelstein praised Van Ostern’s relatability, referring to him as a “guy next door” type. In regards to Van Ostern’s political career, Finklestein said he was not surprised to hear he went into government. “He’s always been interested in the public sector and [been] the type to give back. That was part of his portfolio of how he looked at the world,” he said. Finklestein pointed out that Van Ostern stayed local despite having graduated from a top business school. “He had the smarts to go to Wall Street, but I don’t think he ever spent much time thinking about it,” he said. Tuck professor Bill Martin advised Van Ostern on his first-year project, which was an entrepreneurial group to provide feedback and opinions from consumers to companies. “It’s funny, even back then he was looking at ways to make sure real people were actually heard,” Martin said. Martin described Van Ostern as a “bright, energetic people person” and a “team builder with an entrepreneurial spirit.” “He liked solving problems,” Martin said. Van Ostern said he found a great community at Tuck and recalled breaking his ankle playing “Tripod Hockey,” a version of pond hockey for people who have never played before. After graduating, Van Ostern adopted the role of class secretary and still stays in touch with some of his professors. After leaving Tuck, Van Ostern went on to work for Stonyfield, the world’s largest organic yogurt producer. “That is a classic example of the type of company that would attract him, because of their high
ethical values, sustainability and healthy food,” Finklestein said. Later Van Ostern joined Southern New Hampshire University as the chief marketing officer. “ I t h i n k h av i n g a s t ro n g background in successful New Hampshire employers gives me perspective on how to build an even stronger economy,” Van Ostern said. In 2011, he first ran for office — and was elected — as a member of the Executive Council of New Hampshire, which functions as a board of directors for the state’s executive branch. Many members of the executive council work in business as well, he said. “I ran really because I was worried that politics or special interests were overriding what was really best for the people of New Hampshire,” he said. Previously, Van Ostern opposed the executive council’s decision to cut off funding for birth control and cancer screening from Planned Parenthood, and led the movement to restore funding. He went on to campaign on the importance of extending the commuter rail from Boston to New Hampshire to help boost business growth and the economic development. “I think it’s incredibly important that we keep the state moving forward and doing it in a way that works for the people of New Hampshire — that’s not always been the case,” Van Ostern said. Van Ostern also cited special interests lobbying against renewable energy as examples of the government not acting in the peoples’ best interests. One of Van Ostern’s concerns is encouraging young people, families and businesses to come and stay in New Hampshire. “We have the best quality of life in the country, safest neighborhoods [and] good schools. [Yet] our high school and college students tend to leave as soon as they graduate almost faster than any other state,” he said. Van Ostern said rallying strong support from state voters will be a key factor during his campaign this year, in order to face challenges from opposition groups. “I think it’s critical we build a real grassroots, people-powered campaign. That means building a strong network of supporters across the state where neighbors are talking to each other,” Van Ostern said. The only other announced candidate for governor is Republican candidate Chris Sununu, son of former governor John Sununu.
Swayne created Dartmouth’s third MOOC, “Introduction to Opera,” which opened last Tuesday. Pease and Dobson co-created the DartmouthX course “Literature of the American Renaissance,” which is scheduled to launch in spring 2016. Pease and Dobson discussed how designing their MOOC has influenced their approaches to teaching and how technology affects learning. They are teaching a course at the College on the same topic this winter that will be informed in some ways by their experiences creating the online course. English Ph.D. students and “Digital Fellows” at Harvard University Emily Silk and Adrienne Raphel spoke about the tools they used as instructors of the HarvardX MOOC “Poetry in America,” led by professor Lisa New, and noted similarities between different programs, such the use of annotation tools and discussion forums. She said professors at all of the schools are thinking about the same issues, such as how to create productive conversations in a class of thousands of students. Colgate University English professor Jennifer Brice spoke about the “Living Writers” course, which she has been teaching since 2010 with Colgate professor Jane Pinchin. The course ran synchronously with a residential course and used chats, blogs and question sessions to engage with the professor and students in the residential course. The MOOC also had a kick-off party in New York City where students from the online course could meet other students in person. In many of Penn’s MOOCs, there are areas for peer review of work and reflection, Penn’s digital learning initiatives and online pedagogies director Benjamin Wiggins said. Penn’s MOOCs also stress project-based learning and experiential learning, in which students go out to the community and apply the concepts they have learned and report back, he said. While the pedagogies used in humanities MOOCs share many similarities, the missions of each school offering them differed. Dartmouth associate chief information officer for academic and client services Alan Cattier said that there are three main reasons Dartmouth was interested in offering online courses. First, he said that the College was interested in participating in an online experiment that could serve as “a laboratory for course development.” A second reason Dartmouth joined edX was to participate in a consortium that was gathering data
GABRIELLE KIRLEW/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Professors from multiple schools gathered at the College to discuss MOOCs.
about learning and online teaching in order to benefit the College’s residential experience. “The total collection of data could be really helpful about making data-driven decisions about how technology works and doesn’t work in enhancing learning,” he said. Third, he said the College was interested in engaging with other institutions and sharing ideas. Wiggins said that MOOCs provide a learning experience for Penn faculty. “The process of teaching the MOOC gives them a new perspective on teaching. MOOCs are somewhat like a crucible. They get faculty thinking about things they’re so used to teaching,” he said. Wiggins said components of online courses are often utilized in the classroom, where students watch lectures and models from MOOCs related to their courses before class. Wiggins said that this allows classrooms to be interactive spaces. For Harvard, a primary goal of offering MOOCs is to extend the knowledge and appreciation for the humanities across the world, Silk said. This goal is reflected in the extent of Harvard’s online course offerings. Currently, there are 20 humanities courses on HarvardX. Brice said Colgate’s online courses reach out to alumni and parents in order to include them in the community and prolong their learning after graduation. She also noted that the highest percentage of parents participating in the “Living Writers” course were those of freshmen enrolled in the course at Colgate. Associate director of online learning at Princeton Laura Shaddock said Princeton also uses what it learns from designing and teaching MOOCs to enhance the classroom experience. Princeton is an edX charter member similar to the College in its size and focus on undergraduate education. PrincetonX differs from DartmouthX, however,
in that the majority of their students have been in the STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — fields. “We have a number of courses in other disciplines, but the STEM courses continue to see high enrollments from students around the globe,” Shaddock said. Additionally, Princeton does not offer paid certificates to offset the cost of developing MOOCs, Shaddock said, whereas Dartmouth does provide that option for those who are interested in receiving a formal certificate of completion. Without certification, the courses are free. In describing what sets DartmouthX apart from programs at other institutions, Cattier said that the courses on Italian opera and American Renaissance writing were distinctive since the humanities have not been particularly well represented in MOOCs. “There’s this entire world that opens up when you introduce a course like Italian opera and American Renaissance,” Cattier said. “They allow a particularly unique dynamic to develop, which is the signature of the humanities. The humanities are critical and are really important to Dartmouth as a liberal arts institution.” The countries with the greatest number of participants in Dartmouth’s first two MOOCs are the United States, Canada, the United Kindgom and India, Dartmouth instructional designer for educational technologies Mike Goudzwaard said. The opera MOOC is expected to draw a more European student body, Goudzwaard said, because he thinks the Italian opera will appeal to a European audience. The retention for Dartmouth’s first two MOOCs was around 12 to 13 percent, almost twice as much as the average retention for MOOCs, Goudzward said. EdX director of communications Nancy Moss said that edX was pleased with the solid interest demonstrated in Dartmouth MOOCs.
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
Staff Columnist MICHAEL BEECHERT ’16
Staff Columnist Will Alston ’16
Bursting the Dartmouth Bubble
Style Without Substance
We all must make efforts to lead less insular lives at Dartmouth.
One of Dartmouth’s greatest strengths is its sense of community. When compared to its peer institutions, many of which are located in urban environments, the College can rightly claim to have cultivated a particularly cohesive environment and a strong sense of campus identity. This is owed, in large part, to location. Without the possibility of disappearing into a large city to seek out food or entertainment, students are forced to make use of what the Dartmouth campus and the town of Hanover have to offer. Running into your peers over and over again, in the same restaurants, stores and social spaces, invariably leads to some sense of familiarity. This can be comforting, particularly for first-years who are thrust into an entirely new environment, and Dartmouth should — and does — use this fact as a selling point when appealing to prospective students. After enough time on campus, however, the College’s environs start to feel like transparent walls. As quaint and picturesque as Hanover is, there are only so many streets to explore and businesses to frequent, and seeing the same faces day after day on campus begins to engender a sense of staleness. Students, caught up in the narrowly drawn borders of the Dartmouth experience, may begin to lose track of what is going on in the world beyond Hanover. This is not necessarily intentional, as it is easy to allow oneself to be passively wrapped up in the comforting insularity of the campus bubble. It is a trap into which I have fallen many times. But it is in the best interest of every student, and of the health of the Dartmouth community as a whole, to puncture that bubble once in a while. Doing so allows us to remain engaged with the world at large, as well as to take a deep breath and re-evaluate how we define our experiences here. Students can begin by reading a noncampus newspaper more regularly. One of the more disappointing characteristics of the Dartmouth student body in general, I have come to notice, is how under-informed people tend to be with regard to national and inter-
national current events. This is often reflected in the quality of conversations that one can hear simply walking around campus. A visitor without any other sources of information might not, based on what he picks up in the dining hall or library, realize that there is a refugee crisis happening in Europe but he would learn plenty about how last night’s pong games unfolded. We should not be proud of this, as a sense of intellectualism should permeate every aspect of a university that likes to think of itself as a leading force in higher education. Fortunately, students can cultivate a more intellectual campus environment quite easily. All that is required is a curiosity about what is going on outside the confines of Hanover, and developing and acting upon such curiosity together would make our community much stronger. From time to time, establishing a physical distance between oneself and the Dartmouth bubble can be of great benefit. When seemingly everyone is stressed out over midterms or the job-hunt or obsessed with talking about the latest overblown campus controversy, it is useful to take a step away and enjoy a change of scenery. Interacting with people not affiliated with the College, be they nearby family members or friends at other schools, can provide a refreshing and much-needed change of perspective. Boston and Montreal, only a couple hours away by car or bus, offer social and cultural outlets for those wishing for more than what is to be found in Hanover, so take a weekend off and make the trip. With proper planning and good time management, every student should be able to venture outside the bubble at least once a term. And if your academic plans allow for it, explore one of the myriad study abroad opportunities the College makes available to its students. Spending a couple of months in another country can do wonders for the depth of one’s perspective, and looking back on experiences from overseas helps to combat feelings of isolation and insularity. Doing so allows us, in turn, to truly appreciate the community we have in place.
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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.
On economics, the Democratic presidential candidates offer empty rhetoric. Politicians are frequently criticized for caring about little except themselves and their narrow cadres of supporters. Republicans in particular are often accused of being especially so, with the GOP frequently characterized as a party of navel-gazing white males. The Oct. 13 CNN Democratic debate and Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley’s recent campaign stop at the College, however, revealed that the Democratic candidates, too, are primarily focused on social issues of great importance to their own party, rather than the issue a huge plurality of voters consistently identify as the most important — the economy. With regards to economics, Democratic presidential candidates offer empty rhetoric consisting of appealing-sounding platitudes about making the wealthy pay “their fair share” and recipes for damaging states and individuals who — probably not coincidentally — do not vote Democratic. To start, let’s take one of the more common themes of the Democratic presidential campaigns — that the wealthy should “pay their fair share.” Who are these “wealthy” that the Democrats want to pay for everything, exactly? Do business owners and upper-middle class families paying huge amounts of their income to combined federal, state and local taxes in big blue states like California and New York — more than 50 percent at the margin on income without even including state and local taxes — count as people who need to pay more? Or do these Democrats actually intend on taking a knife to the incomes of the Wall Street moguls and tech mega-millionaires who provide a bulwark of Democratic cultural and financial support alike? Admittedly, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is an exception to this rule, as he does not take money from Super PACs and large corporations regardless of party affiliation. It may be useful to illustrate what the policies of these Democratic candidates can do to an economy with a concrete example. I recently attended which O’Malley, the former governor of my home state of Maryland, gave at the Top of the Hop. At the event, O’Malley made much of his history of raising taxes on the wealthy in Maryland, but did not go much in depth about the outcomes of doing so. This was probably justifiable, as Maryland became one of the
worst-performing states in the mid-Atlantic after he increased several dozen taxes and fees. Thousands of Marylanders migrated to other states, taking jobs and tax dollars with them. While this didn’t affect Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties much — solidly Democratic counties with lots of federal jobs — it had severe consequences for more rural counties that were more reliant on the private sector for employment. Ironically, these are the most economically disadvantaged counties in the state of Maryland — the sort of people O’Malley claims to want to help. Finally, most of the Democratic candidates favor substantially increasing the minimum wage, with O’Malley and Sanders proposing to increase the national minimum wage to $15 per hour and Hillary Clinton proposing to raise the minimum wage to $12. While most economists do not think that small minimum wage increases would have substantial effects on unemployment, there is a near-universal consensus among economists — including French economist Thomas Piketty, who proposed a global wealth tax to combat inequality — that a very large hike would cost the U.S. a substantial numbers of jobs. In a wealthy locale like San Francisco or New York, a raise to $12 or $15 would not affect most workers and might be in line with costs of living. In a poor state like Mississippi, a raise to $15 would actually negatively affect a majority of workers and jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Just as with Martin O’Malley’s governing record, the concerns of these poorer, more rural areas — which lean strongly Republican — are being completely ignored by his and other Democrats’ minimum wage proposals. Perhaps it should not be surprising that politicians would craft proposals primarily designed to benefit their own constituents, but I personally believe that America deserves better. I find it highly ironic that the Democrats — who rhetorically style themselves as the progressive champions of the downtrodden against the wealthy and powerful — would not only choose to focus less on the main issue a plurality of Americans care about, but put forward proposals that would actively harm some of the more economically disadvantaged areas of the country. Regardless of rhetoric, it goes to show that the GOP is not the only party guilty of only caring about itself.
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O’Malley talks liberal politics at the Top of the Hop FROM O’MALLEY PAGE 1
O’Malley’s support is not negligible at the College, where many Maryland natives have rallied behind his campaign. “Students will start to see that he actually cares and wants to talk to them, and that’s when they’ll start to take him more seriously as a candidate,” Chris Quintero ’18 said. Quintero, a Maryland native who served as an intern with O’Malley’s campaign over the summer and currently organizes for the O’Malley campaign at the College, said he began supporting the former governor as soon as he launched his campaign. O’Malley was introduced on Friday by Sandra Aka ’19, another Maryland resident and supporter of O’Malley’s platform. Aka said O’Malley’s work on immigration reform — particularly the passage of the DREAM Act — same-sex marriage legalization and his efforts to raise the minimum wage were major factors in her support. She will vote for O’Malley in the New Hampshire primary, she said. “I think that everyone should get to know him and get to know his policies and make the right decision,” she said. Other students at the event expressed concern about O’Malley’s lack of popular support. “My biggest concern is just that already the Democratic base is already split between more of the far left and more of the establish-
ment, and adding more of that might make it a weaker party,” Matt Brown ’19 said. At 156 members, the Dartmouth for O’Malley Facebook group has more members than
“Just like there’s not a trade-off between liberty and security, there shouldn’t be a trade-off between violent crime and courteous and professional police. We should be able to do both of these things at the same time.” - DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MARTIN O’MALLEY the Dartmouth for Hillary Clinton group — which has 104 members — but is substantially behind the Dartmouth Students and Staff for Bernie group, which has 293 members. The O’Malley campaign is relying on outreach to students to build support in New Hampshire, the campaign’s state director John Bivona said. O’Malley has positioned himself to the left of frontrunner Hillary
Clinton, but he has not gone as far as self-described “democratic socialist” Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who is polling tightly with Clinton both in individual states — including New Hampshire — and has started to close the gap in national polls. After making brief remarks on Friday at the Top of the Hop, O’Malley took several questions from students and community members, taking stances on issues like same-sex marriage, East Asian trade policy, immigration, the Black Lives Matter movement, criminal justice reform and economic inequality. “I really liked everything that he was saying. I even had a paper due, and I was like ‘It doesn’t matter,’” Jovanay Carter ’19 said. “I just think that he’s addressing important issues, something that a lot of people don’t.” Carter signed up to intern with the O’Malley campaign following the event. O’Malley called for a greater respect between police and communities following police violence directed at African-Americans, including the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland. “Just like there’s not a trade-off between liberty and security, there shouldn’t be a trade-off between violent crime and courteous and professional police,” he said. “We should be able to do both of these things at the same time.” O’Malley emphasized income inequality, and said that it has become challenging for American
KEYS TO MY HEART
ZOE WANG/THE DARTMOUTH
Spectators enjoyed a weekend performance in the Vaughn Recital room.
parents to pass the American dream to their children. He advocated for increased unionization and collective bargaining rights as a solution to some wage issues and also discussed his creation of a living wage in Maryland, as well as other workers’ rights programs like increased parental leave programs. Fixing problems with the income distribution in the U.S. could be challenging, but that struggle will be worth the effort, O’Malley said. “You know, I kind of like tough
“I kind of like tough fights. I think a tough fight is a way of telling us we’re fighting for something worth saving.” - DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MARTIN O’MALLEY fights,” he said. “I think a tough fight is a way of telling us we’re fighting for something worth saving. Our children’s future is worth saving. Our country is worth saving. Our planet is worth saving.” O’Malley also called for new programs to curb climate change, including increased use of nuclear power, wind technology and other renewable energy sources. He emphasized his opposition to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a program that Sanders and Clinton have also opposed. The first debate in the Democratic primary was held last Tuesday, and O’Malley — who had counted on the debates to increase awareness of his campaign — said he was unhappy with moderator Anderson Cooper’s decision to allocate roughly four-fifths of the questions asked to Sanders and Clinton, the two leading candidates. Clinton spoke for roughly 31 minutes, Sanders spoke for 28 and O’Malley spoke for about 18, according to The New York Times. He still spoke more than former senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia) and former Rhode Island governor and senator Lincoln Chafee (D-Rhode Island), who spoke for 15.5 and nine minutes, respectively. “Maybe next time it’ll be a little more equal,” O’Malley said. The debates will be a major platform for the campaign to advertise its message to voters, Bivona said. “Once people see these debates, they’re going to see him as a very viable candidate.” Quintero said. O’Malley’s campaign will rely heavily on individual outreach
to voters and retail — or local, small-scale — politics, particularly in New Hampshire, which has a small population, Bivona said. “[New Hampshire voters have] seen campaigns up close, so your message definitely has to be tighter,” he said. “Your conversations with folks here in New Hampshire, you can’t just talk at 30,000 feet. You really have to be prepared to answer the questions about the issues that they care about.” Young voters — particularly at New Hampshire’s colleges and universities — will be key to success in the state, Bivona said. “You rarely ever see someone under the age of 40 who doesn’t believe that the economy should work for everyone, doesn’t believe that climate change isn’t an issue that we really need to deal with as a country and doesn’t believe that [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] communities shouldn’t have the same rights to marriage as everybody else,” he said. Meeting in small groups with voters and students will remain a key portion of O’Malley’s platform in both New Hampshire and Iowa, the first state to hold a caucus for the presidential primary next February, he said. “We have organizers across the state who spent the summer doing one-on-one meetings with activists and volunteers, talking to them about the governor’s record and the race in general,” Bivona said. Campaign staff in the Upper Valley region have held frequent meetings with students at Dartmouth to help organize for O’Malley, Quintero said. Although initially only a small group of students were interested in assisting the campaign, that group has grown. Many Maryland students are also supporters of O’Malley, citing his work in their home state. “He has 15 years of actual executive experience, of actually getting these progressive policies done and implemented.” Quintero said. Speaking Friday, O’Malley said he will focus on his record to attract votes, rather than his speaking abilities. “I’m not good at giving lofty speeches, and I’m bad at taking advice from pollsters,” he said. “But in 15 years of executive experience as a big city mayor — stepping up to offer to lead what had become at that time our most violent, addicted and abandoned city in America, and turn that around — and then as governor, I followed that formula — actions, not words.” O’Malley also spoke at the College last May, a day after announcing his presidential campaign.
PAGE 6
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
DARTMOUTH EVENTS TODAY 10:00 a.m. “My Life in Houses” (2015), film by professor Amy Lawrence, Black Family Visual Arts Center, 2nd Floor Film & Media Studies Gallery
4:30 p.m. “A Conversation about the Federal Budget” with Maya MacGuineas and professor Charles Wheelan ’88, Rockefeller Center, Room 003
6:00 p.m. “The Political Economy of Network Effects: The Rise of the Mentor State” with professor Bernard Avishai, Alphi Phi Sorority
TOMORROW 3:30 p.m. “The Role of Substorms and Whistler-Mode Chorus Waves in the Rebuilding of Earth’s Radiation Belts,” seminar, Wilder 111
4:30 p.m. “The Unbeaten Path: Demystifying the Non-Profit Job Search,” Kemeny Hall 007
7:00 p.m. “Food Chains” (2014), free film screening, Black Family Visual Arts Center, Loew Auditorium
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. The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 01999931
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
PAGE 7
Weekend performance pleases crowds with a variety of skits
Puri said that she feels like the show allowed students to show The Dartmouth Senior Staff off their creativity and have fun Students spilled onto the floor the through acting, while also occasionHopkins Center’s Bentley Theater ally bringing up more serious issues. to watch Saturday and Sunday’s “‘Too Much Light’ shows you productions of “Too Much Light how Dartmouth kids, when they Makes the Baby Go Blind,” a rapid work together and just have fun, can fire production of 30 plays in 60 combine all their creative energy minutes adapted by the College’s to make awesome comedy, drama, Displaced Theater Company. whatever they put their minds to,” Despite technological problems she said. “I felt that I was basically and not knowing the order of the watching Dartmouth students have skits until the show began, co- fun, but in performance form. producer Ariel Klein ’17 said that Some of the skits were completely everyone involved had an amazing ridiculous and hilarious and some time. were more serious and addressed Sadhana Puri ’18, who was in- important issues on our campus.” volved in last year’s production and She said that her favorite skit attended this year’s show , said that was one called “S&S the Musical,” the Bentley Theater was completely which took the premise of the infull during both performances. ternet meme “Actual Cannibal Shia “There LaBeouf ” and w e r e e v e n “‘Too Much Light’ shows applied it to some people Dartmouth you how Dartmouth sitting on the Safety and floor to watch kids, when they just Security. Puri because there have fun, can combine said that she we re n’t a ny also appreciseats left,” she all their creative energy ated a skit that said. allowed stuto make awesome Klein esdents to speak comedy, drama, timated that frankly about over 100 stu- whatever they put the College’s dents attended their minds to. I felt new policy each show with that eliminates the show on that I was basically need-blind fiSaturday being watching Dartmouth nancial aid for more crowded international students have fun, but than that on students. in performance form. Sunday. Klein Klein said Some of the skits were said that she that one of also enjoyed the challenges completely ridiculous the “S&S the with the show and some were more Musical” skit, was that they calling it “pure serious and addressed did not know genius.” the length of important issues on our P r i the show until campus. ” yanka Altman the first perfor’18, who atmance, due to tended the the fact that the -Sadhana Puri ’18, show, said that audience chose she thought audience member and the order of the “ To o M u ch previous participant skits. Light” was “ We a p g reat and a proximated funny show. that each of T h e the skits were about two minutes, production was sponsored by the but it actually ran for an hour and theater department as part of the 40 minutes,” she said. Your Space productions. Your Klein said that before the first Space is meant to allow non-theater show the company ran into an is- majors greater access and opportusue when a balloon that played a nities to take part in productions. key role in the skit “Clown School Students apply for slots in the Dropout” did not work. They came program at the start of each term, up with an alternate sketch with a and those who receive them get deflated balloon that they ended up mentorship from a theater profesusing even though they found the sor, advertising help and a small pump, she said. projection budget. Klein said that her goal in pro- Earlier this term, Casual Thursducing the show was to allow both day held an improv show in the the performers and the audience to Bentley Theater as part of the have fun. program. “I wanted to make sure people Klein said that she is planning were finding humor, and I think that to produce the show again in the really did come across,” she said. winter.
B y Amelia rosch
TiIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
“Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” drew large crowds for both performances.
PAGE 8
ARTS
“Tangerine”: Grit and guts on an iPhone 5s
his nosy mother-in-law. He pursues SinDee, his princess in the cheetah-print The Dartmouth Staff top, back to Donut Time — where Sin Make a film about transgender Dee and Alexandra first met up — for prostitutes of color in Los Angeles on the film’s uproarious denouement. Like a shoestring budget. Now make it only a multi-car pile up, Sin-Dee, Chester, using the iPhone 5s, but give it a big Dinah, Razmik and his mother-in-law screen look. This basket of ingredients all converge for quite the mad tea party would sink most studios, but it was an with dialogue so naturalistic it’s hard to invitation to greatness for director and believe a script was behind it. writer Sean Baker, whose “Tangerine” In an interview with Variety maga(2015) stands as a monument to the zine, Ransone said that customers often indie genre and a middle finger to the interrupted filming in the donut shop cinema giants just miles down the road since they couldn’t afford to buy it out for in Hollywood. the day. The iPhones, location shooting The film opens on Christmas Eve, and perfect casting all give “Tangerine” with the motormouth Sin-Dee Rella a documentary feel. Thanks to a few (Kitana Kiki Rolenses and endriguez) having hancement apps, just been released “Like something out the film has the from prison. She of ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ saturation and discovers from smoothness of Sin-Dee rampages her best friend a hip hop music Alexandra (Mya through L.A.’s streets, video with the Taylor) that her busting down doors spontaneity and drug dealer boyexplosiveness of friend Chester and tearing through a Vine. (James Ransone) a prostitution ring for With has been cheatall the catfighting her pound of flesh.” ing with some and shade, there “white fish” — a is no room for cis-woman. She “Paris is Burning” snaps, and like (1990) moroseAhab, monomaness, exploitation niacally hunts or gender agenda down this Moby Dick, Dinah (Mickey — those tubes have thankfully been O’Hagan). Like something out of tied. It’s just one giant drag ball, and “Grand Theft Auto,” Sin-Dee ram- gritty L.A. is their catwalk. Perhaps pages through L.A.’s streets, busting Baker wastes too much screentime on down doors and tearing through a Sin-Dee walking through the streets prostitution ring for her pound of flesh. while dance remixes pound, but her She becomes a bloodhound in heels, ferocious swagger can make even the and holds a vice grip once she finds most banal sidewalk into a theater of Dinah, dragging her through L.A. with the absurd. a pocketbook tied around her neck like As Caitlyn Jenner becomes a figurea leash. head of the transgender community, “Tangerine” watches like a violent we lose sight of the everyday, gritty viral video, but has all the fierceness, struggles of the common foot soldier. swag and hustle of a dominatrix to There are no Vogue covershoots or make you submit in sadistic delight. flowing dresses. As Alexandra reminds Sin-Dee manhandles Dinah into us, “All they have is their hustle. And obedience while Alexandra wrestles a that’s IT!” With women so unflinchflaccid customer into compensation. ingly themselves, Baker’s camera Baker allows their personalities to follows in awe of their, well, balls, to emerge in screwball style, but avoids make it through a world lived on street satire or mockumentary — this is less corners and passenger seat trysts. But a film about transgenderism and more Baker makes us laugh and reminds us about two women tearing up L.A. like that even the most bitter, hotly contenTasmanian devils. tious issues have a tangier side. Dragged into the brewing maelstrom is Razmik (Karren Karagulian), Rating: 9/10 an Armenian cab driver with a trans- “Tangerine” played at Dartmouth’s fetish who must hide his desires from Loew Auditorium Friday night at 9 p.m.
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
A LONG DAY’S KNIGHT
B y andrew kingSLEY
TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The Knights, a Brooklyn-based orchestral group, came to campus and performed at the Spaulding Auditorium at the Hop.
I SEE ... A CONFERENCE
SEAMORE ZHU/THE DARTMOUTH
A conference on Salvador Dali, Fredrico Garcia Lorca and Luis Bunel was held in Haldeman on Thursday.