VOL. CLXXII NO. 22
SNOW SHOWERS HIGH 86 LOW 58
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Sexual Respect website launched Tuesday
First MOOC class begins
By ANNIE MA
The Dartmouth Staff
At Dartmouth, Friedland’s course enrolls 60 to 100 students per year, but the MOOC format allows him to expose many more people to the material, he said. “I try to explain that there are natural systems on earth, humans influence them and there are no easy answers,” Friedland said. “If I can even get 10 percent of the course enrollment — 800 students — to get some appreciation of that,
A new webpage highlighting all resources available to survivors of sexual violence was launched Tuesday by Dartmouth’s Title IX coordinator and Clery Act compliance officer Heather Lindkvist. The website was announced in an email sent to the Dartmouth community Tuesday afternoon that also detailed changes in policy regarding the confidentiality of resources on campus. The page, titled Sexual Respect, contains information on Title IX, the Clery Act and a comprehensive guide to policies and procedures regarding sexual and domestic violence at the College. In addition, it features resources that can be found on and off campus for survivors of sexual assault, dating violence or gender-based violence. The website also defines terminology used by the College’s unified sexual assault policy and provides information on how to report an incident. The site consolidates information that was previously scattered over many of the College’s websites, Lindkvist said in an interview with The Dartmouth. The website aims to be a central portal for communication by making all information regarding sexual, dating and gender-based violence available in one place, she said. The site also redirects students to other programs such as WISE, Sexual Assault Peer Advisors and the Sexual Assault Awareness Program. She said that she hopes this centralization will lead to increased transparency about policy and resources at the College. Tori Nevel ’16, a WISE @ Dartmouth member and
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Environmental studies professor Andrew Friedland developed an online course on environmental science.
B y ERIN LEE The Dartmouth Staff
Dartmouth’s first massive online open course, “Introduction to Environmental Science,” launched Tuesday morning as part of the DartmouthX program on the Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed website edX. The six-week course focuses on biodiversity, energy and global change and cur-
rently has over 8,500 people enrolled worldwide, environmental studies professor and course lead Andrew Friedland said. The course is modeled after “Introduction to Environmental Science,” a class that Friedland has taught at Dartmouth for about 25 years. Because the course is shorter than a typical term at Dartmouth, some topics had to be omitted, namely air and water pollution and recycling, he said.
Dartmouth raised $250 million in charitable donations B y estephanie aquino The Dartmouth Staff
A Voluntary Support of Education survey ranked Dartmouth as the fourth highest charitable donation contributor per student from private research institutions, VSE survey director Ann Kaplan said. The results of survey, which were released last Wednesday, revealed that Dartmouth raised over $250 million in charitable donations in fiscal year 2014, a 56 percent increase from the previous year’s $160 million
in donations. The survey, conducted by the Council for Aid to Education, revealed that the College is part of a national trend of increasing donations in private research institutions for the year of 2014. According to this year’s survey results, colleges and universities raised a historic high of $37.45 billion. The survey found that donations to colleges and universities in the United States increased 10.8 percent in 2014, SEE DONATIONS PAGE 2
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Students try stamp making during a Book Arts Workshop.
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DAily debriefing Brown University: Funding for new research proposals at Brown has been roughly 30 percent higher in the first half of fiscal year 2015 than in 2014, the Brown Daily Herald reports. Available funds at the University had declined by roughly 13.7 percent in the period between 2013 and 2014 in the aftermath of federal sequestration, according to the Herald, and funding has still not returned to its peak 2011 levels. Columbia University: Following the appointment of Cristen Kromm as Columbia’s new dean of undergraduate student life, student members of the University’s search committee have released a statement opposing the decision, the Columbia Spectator reported. In a press release published on Feb. 2, the student members of the search committee claimed that student voices had been silenced throughout the process. Cornell University: In a Feb. 2 profile, the Cornell Daily Sun reported on the work of John Lowry, a Cornell junior, who successfully brought the Food Recovery Network to campus following his realization as a Cornell Dining employee that a large amount of usable food was being wasted by the University. At Cornell, the Network — a national organization devoted to providing food to those without — has focused on gathering recoverable food from University dining halls and distributing it to volunteer organizations. Harvard University: Students interested in watching the New England Patriots compete against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX had a number of unusual options, according to the Harvard Crimson. While many chose to view the game in their residential communities or in Harvard dining halls, some students and community members also opted to attend an “anti-Super Bowl” party, held at the University’s Humanist Hub in conjunction with a Super Bowl party. At the “anti-Super Bowl” party, television screens displayed Animal Planet’s “Puppy Bowl” instead of the National Football League’s broadcast. Princeton University: Following the repeal of a grade deflation policy at Princeton at the beginning of this academic year, the University will began attaching a letter to the transcripts of upperclassmen explaining the decision, the Daily Princetonian reported. Although some students expressed concerns about how the policy would affect upperclassmen, the removal of the grading policy will not apply retroactively to the grades earned under the old policy.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
Alum donations to College increase FROM DONATIONS PAGE 1
amounting to the largest gain in voluntary support since 2000, when college donations increased by 13.7 percent. Kaplan said that Dartmouth has been a strong contributor to the rise in donations and that the College averages $40,000 per current student in contributions, which is higher than the $11,000 dollar per student average found in other institutions categorized as private research institutions. The majority of donations made to the College came from donoradvised funds, she said, with the second, third and fourth contributors being alumni, foundations and student contributions, respectively. Kaplan said student contributions amounted to $120,000 of the total $250 million donated. Alumni Council president Lou Spelios ’95 said that he was not surprised to hear that alumni were amongst the highest contributors, especially since Dartmouth alumni have a strong commitment to remaining involved with the College and supporting the College’s efforts to improve the lives of students and transform the community. “I think having a continued high confidence for the institution and the institution’s beliefs has inspired the alumni to continue to give generously,” he said. Spelios said that he believes the College has done a great job
keeping alumni informed about the projects it is pursuing. He added that he believes that Dartmouth alumni are unique because the majority of them retain a strong sense of pride and connection to
“I think having a continued high confidence for the institution and the institution’s beliefs has inspired the alumni to continue to give generously.” - Lou spelios ’95, alumni council president the College at a level that he feels to be unprecedented in comparison to other institutions. In 2014 the College received pledges for $287.2 million in philanthropic donations, which included an individual pledge of $100 million, the largest individual pledge in College history. The Dartmouth College Fund reported to the Huffington Post last year that the College had received donations from nearly 42.8 percent of the alumni population. Bruce Miller ’74, the College Fund committee chair, said that
he attributes the success of the College’s donations to the generous alumni. He added that the efforts to raise donations are both College and class initiatives. Miller said that this past year the Class of 1989 donated eight million dollars, which broke records in class donations. He added, however, that although the College has continued to break donation records due to the efforts of groups such as the Centennial Circle — a group of Dartmouth female alumni that have gathered more than 100 women to pledge at least $100,000 each — the College has experienced declined alumni participation. The Council for Aid to Education reports that this year’s alumni participation declined from 8.7 percent in fiscal year 2013 to 8.3 percent in fiscal year 2014. Dartmouth alumni are donating more each, but less alumni overall are donating. Miller added that despite the decline in alumni participation, the College still ranked as the Ivy League school with the second highest alumni participation rate, trailing only behind Princeton. “Dartmouth is blessed with a generous alumni body that truly cares about the institution,” Miller said. He said that the College ranks nationally in the top “handful” of institutions with high yield of alumni participation.
THROW ME A BONE
University of Pennsylvania: Analysis of data on undergraduate employment collected by the University’s career services office reveals that the percentage of students opting to work in finance has decreased each year over the past five years, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported. Despite this trend, finance and consulting remain the two most popular professional sectors for undergraduates at the University, followed by education and technology. Yale University: Faculty at Yale University will have the opportunity to voice feedback about a newly proposed faculty code of conduct until Feb. 6, the Yale Daily News reported. The code, which is currently in draft document form, is intended to ensure that the University’s ethical expectations are explicitly stated in published documents. — compiled by irene cofie
Corrections We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com. The Feb. 4 article “Greek advisors react positively to MDF proposals” misidentified alumni board president for the New Hampshire Alpha Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity Herb Philpott as the alumni advisor.
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A student in a “Drawing 1” class sketches a skeleton in the Black Family Visual Arts Center.
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
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Sexual Respect website consolidates campus resources information FROM RESPECT PAGE 1
chair of the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault, also said that the site meets a clear need on campus. Nevel emphasized the importance of information and ease of access for survivors. “There has to be a consolidated resource for people who have experienced sexual assault,” Nevel said. “They might not know the difference between WISE and SAPAs, the pros and cons of each different thing. Keeping all the information updated and in one place is so important.” Most outreach by support groups is conducted through each individual program, SAAP coordinator Amanda Childress said. Through program websites, campus-wide blitzes and direct outreach through orientation programming and undergraduate advisors, supporting resources aim to connect with survivors, Childress said. With the launch of the new website, she said she hopes that the administrative support Lindkvist’s office provides will be better tied in to the counseling resources provided by SAAP. Lindkvist also said that the website aims to clarify the reporting obliga-
tions of various resources at the College. For survivors, conversations with any specific resource are categorized as either private or confidential. Private resources are obligated to share disclosures of sexual assault and gender-based harassment on a need-to-know basis or as required by law. They are also required to report these incidents to Lindkvist in her role as the Title IX coordinator. Confidential resources, in contrast, may not share information without the express consent of the individual. The only exceptions are in the case of imminent danger to either the individual or others, or as required by law, such as in the case of sexual violence against minors. Conversations with SAAP have changed from being a confidential resource to a private resource, Childress said. The change mirrors a national shift from confidential toward private resources for survivors on campus, she added. While SAAP and on-campus resources were confidential by the College, Childress said that they were not considered legally privileged communication by the state of New Hampshire. “It’s very confusing for a student who might think you’re confidential
all of the time,” Childress said. “If they wanted to take the case forward, we would not have the same privilege. In order to clear up some of those concerns, we thought it would be
“Sometimes survivors need to talk about their experience with someone they won’t see again so they won’t be reminded of that conversation.” - Tori Nevel ’16, chair of the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault better to have a separation between confidential and legally privileged sources.” Nevel stressed the importance of having legally confidential sources available to students. WISE at Dartmouth functions independently
from the College. Students involved in the process go through 30 hours of training to be certified by the state of New Hampshire to provide counseling and support as a legally privileged source. As such, Nevel said that WISE volunteers maintain true confidentiality and are not obligated to report statistics to the College. “If a survivor wants to talk to somebody they know they won’t have to see again, or someone who isn’t required to report them as to Clery numbers, WISE is available to them,” Nevel said. “Sometimes survivors need to talk about their experience with someone they won’t see again so they won’t be reminded of that conversation.” Lindkvist said that she hopes the website will demystify the reporting process. A common misconception, she noted, was that reporting an incident would necessarily trigger an investigation. An investigation is only launched if the individual reporting an incident decides to pursue one, Lindkvist said. The Sexual Respect website outlines the process of reporting and the options individuals have moving forward, whether through outside legal means or through the College.
This information, Lindkvist said, will hopefully lead to increased comfort with reporting incidents. The only instance in which an individual’s decision not to pursue an investigation must be weighed against the safety of the community is in the case of multiple reports against a single perpetrator, she said. Lindkvist also noted that if more incidents are reported, repeat perpetrators will be easier to catch. In the wake of new plans to combat sexual assault announced in College President Phil Hanlon’s Moving Dartmouth Forward address last Thursday, Lindkvist said she saw a clear intersection between those initiatives and the launch of the new website. The site would enable the College to better serve students as a conduit for information and resources about the initiatives Hanlon announced. “It really reinforces his vision, a connection to the objectives he’s put forward,” Lindkvist said. “Everyone in our community can be influenced by sexual violence or intimate partner violence in some way. We want to enhance our support structures and opportunities so we can create a stronger culture of reporting.”
First DartmouthX course has 8,500 people enrolled worldwide FROM DARTMOUTHX PAGE 1
I would be really excited.” Every week, students will watch short videos filmed and produced by Friedland and his team, read materials and take quizzes to test their knowledge. While courses on the edX website cannot be taken for credit, students can either audit them for free or receive a verified certificate of achievement for a small fee. EdX, a nonprofit, open-source software platform, was created in 2012 to increase access to quality education and advance teaching and learning online, edX communications manager Rachel Lapal wrote in an email. Director of digital learning initiatives Josh Kim said that Dartmouth has considered joining the open online education movement since edX’s inception, but was concerned that online courses would not facilitate professor-student interactions. About 40 percent of the students who are enrolled in the online environmental science course have college degrees, and 27 percent are from the United States, according to edX analytics. Other significant contingents of students hail from India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and Spain. Instructional designer and course lead Michael Goudzwaard said that student motivations for taking the course include the flexibility of
scheduling, opportunity to explore different topics and professional advancement. For the past week, the students have been participating in precourse content as part of a “Week 0” module, allowing them to introduce themselves to the participants in the class, Goudzwaard said. He said that this course is the first with a “Week O” module and that the idea of offering pre-course content may be adopted by other courses in the edX community. Dartmouth doctoral student and head course teaching assistant Justin Richardson said that his role with the MOOC will be similar as to when he served as a teaching assistant for “Introduction to Environmental Science.” “My job is to make sure that they’re not just talking to a robot, that there’s academic support,” he said. “Really they’re their own community. We’re just assisting minimally so that it grows by itself.” Richardson said that one of his main challenges will be the number of assignments he has to grade, as some of the course’s quizzes ask the thousands of students to write short “tweet” style responses that then need to be reviewed individually by course staff. Associate director of Dartmouth’s media production group and lead course video producer Mike Murray
said that the team created about 35 videos in total for the course. This was his first time working within the academic realm, as the media pro-
“I try to explain that there are natural systems on earth, humans influence them and there are no easy answers. If I can even get 10 percent of the course enrollment — 800 students — to get some appreciation of that, I would be really excited.” - ANDREW FRIEDLAND, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROFESSOR AND COURSE LEAD
duction department typically works with the admissions office, athletics department, alumni affairs office and advancement office, he said. Murray said that he believes faculty are more interested in utiliz-
ing videos as teaching tools in their courses. He said Friedland has expressed interest in using some of the videos produced for the MOOC in his “Introduction to Environmental Science” course. Friedland said that the videos consist of short, engaging clips of Friedland talking directly to the camera, as opposed to full-length lectures, as well as diagrams and schematics. In the videos the team also went on “field trips” and visited the Dartmouth power plant, an organic farm and a photovoltaic tracking panel in Norwich that follows the sun, he said. Emily Lacroix ’15, who helped develop course materials for the online class, said that she took several edX courses this past summer to get a sense of successful approaches and found that interesting videos made a big difference in her engagement with the class. HarvardX communications director Michael Rutter said that the program has expanded significantly in its three years of operation. The original staff of two has now become a team of 50 that comprises design, research and editing teams. HarvardX currently has 63 active projects, he said, and the program is operating on a much larger scale than Dartmouth’s likely would, as the comparative sizes of the institutions are different. Director of communications and
external relations at MIT’s office of digital learning Beth Zonis said that MIT’s edX program, MITx, currently offers about 40 courses and has enrolled about 1.3 million people since its outset. Strategies that have worked well for MIT involve centering courses on both specialties like science and engineering and on “rockstar” faculty who can draw interest based on their notoriety, she said, adding that both are approaches that Dartmouth could use as well. “The question to ask is: what can Dartmouth do that nobody else is doing?” she said. These online courses are essentially experiments for developing digital materials and innovative approaches that can be applied to classes on campus, Kim said. “Because of the number of students that go into these courses, we get lots of data,” he said. “Looking at how students progress through the course will help us improve those courses and help us think about how to improve education here.” A structural engineering course taught by engineering professor Vicki May will begin on May 5, the College has reported. Two other courses — an introduction to opera and an American Renaissance literature course — are in the process of being developed, though their launch dates have not been determined.
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
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CONTRIBUTING Columnist JESSICA LU ’18
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST ANNIKA PARK ’18
Awareness Through Ads
Unveiling the Truth
This year’s Super Bowl showed that advertising can lead to social change. I’m not your fantasy-football-loving, catchevery-game-no-matter-the-team-playing fan, but like many Americans, I tune into the Super Bowl each year. Besides an incredible game that ended in a dramatic win for my hometown team, this year’s event featured a hopeful trend in advertising — bringing light to social justice issues. Super Bowl commercials have evolved into spectacles in their own right. For many who aren’t avid admirers of the sport the commercials can be more exciting than the pigskin — as evidenced by the countless websites rank the best and worst advertisements. These commercials cost millions of dollars, and generally reflect that their primary goal is to sell a product. Super Bowl XLIX, however, featured a type of commercial far removed from silly 15-second spots or flashy chrome-and-asphalt car commercials. Instead, many of these commercials focused on a message greater than a brand or a product and were designed to make us think, not laugh. As part of their #likeagirl campaign, Always asked several people, including young boys and girls as well as adult men and women, to perform certain actions, like running or throwing, “like a girl.” The young girls’ reactions differed from those of the older respondents, who often flailed their arms or hid their face, showing that women are taught during puberty that their gender makes them silly or weak. In a similar vein, Microsoft showed a series of ads, also hashtag-themed. One showed a young boy battling a physical disability with the help of Microsoft technology and another followed Estella, a woman who drives a bus bringing technology to children who need it most. Through these ads, Microsoft sought to be “#empowering” to these individuals and their causes. Jeep took a different approach, telling not a specific story but instead the story of an interconnected world in a beautiful spot set to “This Land is Your Land” featuring snapshots from across the world. Like the others, this commercial was designed with a message in mind, one of inclusivity in a time when immigrants of all races face a resurgence of anti-immigration sentiments. None of these commercials appear to sell a
product directly. While they implicitly sell the brand by eliciting positive responses, these commercials seem to have a greater goal — to raise awareness of injustices or cast a spotlight on the people rectifying problems worldwide. A cynic would say that it’s just good business. Americans like sentimental ads that elicit some powerful feeling, and telling touching stories or shining light on injustice puts a positive face on big corporations. Perhaps it isn’t a sign that corporations care about justice, but instead is a reminder that they only care about their bottom line — selling a product. I, however, have always been an idealist, and I firmly believe that this new trend in advertising means something. Advertisers try to speak to our core beliefs and target things we care about. Yes, it’s naïve to think that these commercials don’t have any economic motives, but this change in advertising certainly provides some hope. Super Bowl commercials are extensively researched and planned, especially when airtime costs $4 million for a 30-second slot. Corporations are willing to spend millions on a message, perhaps it shows that message is finally being valued at its true worth. If they care so much, you might counter, why didn’t they donate those millions? Because not everything can be solved with a donation, and an issue like inequality demands a fundamental change in worldview, not just money. We should be encouraged that corporations have decided to showcase subjects like feminism, education, poverty and ethnocentrism. Even if the corporations themselves are driven by profit, these ads can make a difference. Maybe someone cracked open his second beer of the night and thought, “Wow, why is doing something like a girl a negative thing?” These ads, viewed by millions of Americans, can force us to confront social issues that we may otherwise disregard. The motives of various companies producing these advertisements isn’t important. Regardless of intent, the commercials can educate millions of Americans about injustices that too often go ignored or dismissed, and ultimately open up the possibility of a more aware and socially concerned America. After all, seeing is believing.
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Muslim women shouldn’t be criticized for choosing to wear a hijab. With President Obama’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia to pay respects to the late King Abdullah, the Islamic practice of women wearing hijabs has received attention from Washington Post, Time Magazine and several other media outlets. First Lady Michelle Obama came under fire from many observers for her choice not to wear a hijab, a religious expectation for women within the region. The first response I had to the news of the First Lady’s decision was one of slight confusion — a woman of her standing would know that this is a cultural practice of the host country. Regardless of her personal opinions, her responsibility as a politically and socially prominent individual should have been to respect the local culture and customs. After looking into the controversy further, however, I found that many stood by her decision. Ted Cruz went on to praise her on his Facebook “for standing up for women worldwide and refusing to wearing a Sharia-mandated headscarf in Saudi Arabia.” As an international student that was brought up in Indonesia — a Muslim-majority nation — and Singapore — another South East Asian nation with a large Muslim presence — my perceptions are influenced by my background. I am not Muslim, but I grew up around those who were. I had friends who wore long sleeves under their school uniforms in the scorching 89-degree heat and wore headscarves to school. Many consider these items of clothing to be symbols of oppression, and I did too, until I had a conversation about it with a girl who wore them. She told me that no matter how those outside of her religion perceived her clothing, to her they were symbols of empowerment. The joke, she said, was on those who criticized them. She believed the need to reveal skin to show one was “sexually liberated” was the very sign of a patriarchal society. She was confident in her sexuality and femininity when wearing her headscarf and modest clothing, and that was that. Of course, it’s not that simple. A widespread religious and cultural practice of making women cover themselves is, I believe, based on
an ideal that fundamentally contradicts female empowerment. Wearing those items of clothing presents physical and mental obstacles, such as arbitrary stops at airport security points or harassment at school for alleged violations of uniform rules. Where I come from, it was harder for girls to participate in P.E. class. Seeing my friends run the track in tight, black long-sleeve shirts under the burning tropical sun was concerning. For Muslim women in sports, it is unfortunately very difficult to compete without political controversy. In the 2012 London Olympics, the world’s attention was drawn to Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani, a Saudi female judo competitor, who was initially barred from competing in a headscarf by the International Judo Federation. After sizzling debate and protest, the Judoka was allowed to compete with her hair covered. And just last year the Qatari women’s basketball team was forced to withdraw from the Asian Games as hijabs were “uniforms that did not conform to official basketball rules.” The problem, though, is that such obstacles come from external pressures rather than the practice of wearing a hijab itself. Some women who wear a hijab state that their choice to do so was often judged by others and dismissed as a symptom of oppression and submission. I can only offer my own personal take on the issue, based as it is on my experience of living in a Muslim nation, conversing and living with those who are Muslim. Muslim customs and religious practices can cause controversy, but the bottom line is that we should not judge those who practice the religion in peace with hostility. We have no right impose our own perceptions of what is right and what is wrong onto these women. After all, isn’t that the spirit of personal freedom for which America stands? I respect Michelle Obama’s decision not just because she chose not to wear the headscarf, but because she also chose not to make rash and generalized statements about those who did. That is cultural sensitivity, and that is what we should strive towards.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
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Hugh Jessiman returns to finish degree after hockey career don’t come back.’ That’s when I went to history.” has known Jessiman since his early “But I’m glad I did because deep teenage years — even before he down history is my thing. I love it,” matriculated at Dartmouth. Since he said. “It’s a reflection of life, beginning classes this January, Jes- and right now, I’m definitely in a siman has begun going to practices reflecting period of just how I got to work with the Dartmouth men’s to where I am today. It’s not like I ice hockey team after a conversation did Dartmouth from 2005-2007. I with Gaudet. came back right in the middle — “He’s such a humble guy,” Hugh when he’s 18, 25 and 30… Gaudet said. “He just wanted to The ups and downs that you go be treated like one of the guys and through, I think, develop you into not get any spethe person that cial treatment. you are today.” “He’s such a humble From working This the power play guy. He just wanted to is the person to pushing pucks be treated like one of The New York in a drill — he’ll Times said for do whatever we the guys and not get any w h o m “ a n o need… I care special treatment. From nymity is an about him, elixir,” as if he you care about working the power play were hiding in all the guys. to pushing pucks in a Europe from the They’re all part drill — he’ll do whatever shame of “the of the family.” cumbersome J e s s i m a n we need.” label as one of makes a point the biggest busts not to put himin recent draft self above oth- - bob gaudet, history.” Cerers in practice dartmouth Men’s tainly no one — not an easy Hockey head coach expected a first task with his round draft — professional picespecially in ture on the wall 2003 — to play in Thompson Arena. While he fits only two games in the National in with the guys in the locker room, Hockey League. Certainly, he hoped he occupies an inevitably different his presence at the highest level role in the minds of the players on would have been longer. The last the ice, forward Tim O’Brien ’16 thing Jessiman wants, though, is for said. anyone to pity him for any reason “I definitely [look up to him],” at all — not for a short career in O’Brien said. “He’s got a really good the show, the loss of his mother or offensive mind. He’s experienced. any other situation that played out He’s just a big help when it comes to in his life in which things went one one-on-one stuff, just talking about way when he might have preferred things you can do better.” the other. For Jessiman himself, coming Now finishing an education long back to Thompson and sitting down overdue for an Ivy League student, with the players isn’t a burden or he certainly is not devoid of the an obligation. He views it, he said, signature smile he wore on draft as one of the best parts of coming day. In fact, Gaudet said he brought home. that with him to the rink. “I was pretty excited about that “I’ve known Hugh half his life,” because I wouldn’t be here without Gaudet said. “Hugh always had Dartmouth hockey,” he said. “I owe a passion for the game. He loves a lot to Dartmouth hockey. I was hockey. He has a big smile on his hoping to give back to the team, face when he’s playing and that’s but also just sort of be around the how I remember him always.” guys. The best thing about being a Jessiman’s cousin, Haley Woodhockey player is going to the locker berry ’17, sees a similar picture of room and being part of the team.” him, the type of guy to always, as Off the ice, Jessiman is pursu- he says, “rolls with the punches.” ing his degree in history, which he “Everybody loves him because will complete this spring. He began he’s nice no matter what,” Woodstudying history, he said, because berry said. “I feel like he doesn’t his plan to study economics didn’t judge anyone for doing anything. quite work out. He does his own thing. I don’t really “Let’s just say I took an [econom- know how to say it. He’s not afraid ics] class my freshman year and to do something completely weird pretty much got shooed out of the or crazy.” building after that,” he said with At 30 years old, Jessiman has the same sense of humor he uses walked back on to the Green and to look at almost every moment jumped into classes with kids who or setback he’s experienced in life. were still in elementary and middle “They were like, ‘Hey listen, great school when he left for the profeshaving you, but do us a favor and sional circuit, talking now about FROM JESSIMAN PAGE 8
music and history and papers and midterms. He hesitated to talk about his future plans, stopping himself before he outlined them, not wanting to limit himself with his own words. Some options he’s considering are returning to Europe to play after he recovers from the injury he is currently nursing, moving to New York to work for the summer or simply “adventuring.”
He’s a hockey player not at a crossroads but in a state of transition, fulfilling the promises he made to his family and self and looking to satisfy “the itch” for adventure he’s never been able to fully shake. In a postgame interview after his NHL debut, Jessiman told reporters about his journey to the NHL, echoing the attitude he has taken toward all the journeys in
life — from hockey to education to personal growth. “You never really know exactly how it’s going to come, but you have to believe that that day is coming,” he said. “You have to surrender to what is happening in life and you’ve got to obviously accept the lows and manage the highs. It has been a long road but it was definitely worth the wait.”
Courtesy of Hugh Jessiman
Hugh Jessiman, who is a member of the Class of 2006, played two NHL career games for the Florida Panthers.
PAGE 6
DARTMOUTH EVENTS
THE DARTMOUTH COMICS
“Politics As Usual”
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
Matthew Goldstein ’18
TODAY 4:30 p.m. “From Spears to Kalashnikovs: Warrior Theatre and the Construction of Masculinity in the North Rift, Kenya,” lecture with Sidney Kasfir of Emory University, Hood Auditorium
6:30 p.m. “About Face,” adult workshop, Hood Museum
7:30 p.m. “Argentine Tango Course and Practica” for beginners and intermediate, Sarner Underground
TOMORROW All day “Winter Carnival Ice Sculpture Contest,” Robinson Hall and the Green
4:00 p.m. “Permaculture and Traditional Ecological Knowledge,” lecture with Shannon Francis, Filene Auditorium
7:30 p.m. “Winter Carnival Opening Ceremonies,” with torch lighting by the Dartmouth Ski Team, The Green
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
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
PAGE 8
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
WEDNESDAY LINEUP
No athletic events scheduled
Hugh Jessiman ’06 returns to Dartmouth to finish degree B y gayne kalustian The Dartmouth Staff
“A Draft Bust Playing in Vienna Pictures Life After Hockey,” reads a Nov. 2014 New York Times headline, the photo below it featuring a suit-clad Hugh Jessiman ’06 staring into the camera as horse-drawn carriages pass him in the streets of Vienna, Austria. Further down, two more in-line photographs accompany the story. In the first, a 19-year-old Jessiman stands tall after the 2003 NHL draft, smiling wide. A New York Rangers hat covers his head, hiding what Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet called a “flow Hugh will tell you he doesn’t have anymore.” In the second, he stands in his Vienna Capitals jersey, his face missing that draft-day, tenthousand-mile smile he regularly wears, his reflection in a locker room mirror shrouded in an ominous darkness. The New York Times article details Jessiman’s statistics and his nine-year stint bouncing around the National, American, Kontinental and European hockey leagues. The article describes a first round pick for the NHL — 12th overall — who is now looking at “wearing loafers to work, not skates” and “letting go of his NHL dreams.” From the opening lines describing how the locals “largely ignore” the impressive player to the final footnote describing the alternate headline that appeared in print, it appears as the eulogy for a once-great prospect, living a new life without hockey, taking business classes on the side to prepare for the final “transition.” It is a story. There is a beginning, a middle and an all too-obvious end. But it isn’t Hugh Jessiman’s story. “I’m an adventurer,” Jessiman said on a bench in Carson Hall, back in Hanover to finish his final five classes, leaning over to rest his elbows on his knees and smiling the same toothy grin he sported back on draft day — now one tooth less toothy after 12 more years of hockey. In his freshman year at Dartmouth, Jessiman accrued 47 points in 34 games before scoring 33 points in the 34 games he played during his sophomore season. He stayed at Dartmouth for his junior
year, but was sidelined with a torn deltoid and surrounding ligaments early on in the season, feeling, he said, “immense” pressure from the Rangers to set aside Dartmouth hockey and the traditional fouryear college experience to get his professional career underway. With three terms between him and his degree, Jessiman made the decision to leave the College behind. “I knew what I was giving up: my senior year,” he said. “I also had seen skiers and military guys at Dartmouth enjoying it at a later age, so it was an assurance for me to say to myself, ‘Hey, I will finish,’ and I made a promise to my mom that I would. I didn’t know what it would be like, but I trusted seeing those guys go through it that it would be okay.” Education, for Jessiman, wasn’t simply an option if professional hockey didn’t work out. It was a promise made long ago to his parents and himself. As the nephew, grandson, brother, cousin and son of nine College alumni, Jessiman couldn’t imagine finishing the decade-long quest for his bachelor’s degree at any other school. “I was the product of Dartmouth,” he said. “It’s a pretty special experience to be here. My parents met on the Phi Delt lawn at some Green Key party or something. Dartmouth definitely runs in my blood.” Upon first departing from Hanover, Jessiman bounced between the American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League, not fully recovering from the ankle injury that cut his junior collegiate season short until his third year in professional hockey. After a 42-point season with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the 200708 season, he was traded to the Nashville Predators organization and assigned to the Milwaukee Admirals, scoring 20 goals for the team in his debut season. In June of 2009, Jessiman lost his mother — Laura Woodberry Jessiman ’80 — to a hiking accident. The two were close, he said, and growing up, she played a big role in his formation as a person and a hockey player. When asked about his mother, he didn’t shift uncomfortably in his seat or avoid the question. Instead, he told a
Courtesy of Hugh Jessiman
Drafted 12th overall in the 2003 NHL draft, Hugh Jessiman ’06 spent years playing hockey before returning to Dartmouth.
story. “A lot of times my mom would be the one that would drive us to the games, and one time specifically — she used to always tell this story — we were driving home from Albany and she was driving us home, like six kids and you don’t shower when you’re 10 years old,” he said. “So she gets pulled over in upstate New York and she rolls down her window and the cop says, ‘Excuse me,’ and immediately goes, ‘Oh, what is that smell?’ And he says, ‘Do you know how fast you’re going?’” He continues the story. “And she said, ‘Yeah, sorry I was really going a little bit fast, but I was trying to rush home ’cause I got these kids.’ He goes, ‘That is just an awful smell. You know what, honestly, just drive safe,’” Jessiman said. He struggled during the start of the 2009-2010 season after her passing, he said, feeling fine but not quite “mentally there.” Before a game, Jessiman’s coach pulled him aside and told him that even though he was in a tough spot emotionally, the team needed something from him if he wanted to stay. That night, he skated onto the
ice, scored a goal and served a fighting major, kicking off one of his most successful stretches of professional hockey, and ultimately ended the season with 42 points. By the end of next season, he was called up to play in the National Hockey League with the Florida Panthers, where he played his two career NHL games. He got in one fight inthe NHL, sending his opponent Troy Bodie to the ice from the heights of his 6’9” frame on skates. The following spring, he came back to Dartmouth for the first time, joining his sister Margaret Jessiman ’12 for her junior year. “It’s funny because when I was here… You know, you have a feeling of it’s your school, your place, your home,” Jessiman said. “So I called my sister up and said, ‘Hey do you mind if I come back for school?’ She was obviously excited and pumped and called me the next day and said, ‘Hey, just so you know if you come back you gotta be a good boy. My reputation is here and established, and I do not need you screwing it up!’ I laughed, but I honestly made a point of respecting that because it was her time, her place, her
school.” The following fall, Jessiman rejoined the AHL for three more seasons, playing for a handful of teams before pausing his career in Binghamton and heading overseas. Jessiman spent the next two seasons in Europe, the first of which he described as “the best year of [his] life” and “a daily adventure.” In 2013, the year he left the Binghamton Senators, Jessiman was awarded the IOA/American Speciality AHL Man of the Year award , his second time receiving the honor in his professional hockey career — the first coming in Hartford . Jessiman mentioned the first award in his interview at the end of a list explaining why he was “having a good year” in the 2006-2007 season. He didn’t mention winning it again with the Senators for organizing a team effort to support victims of Hurricane Sandy before individually volunteering in three separate community services initiatives later in the season. The awards, the humility and the decision to come back to school this winter, though, come as no surprise to Gaudet, who SEE JESSIMAN PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
PAGE 8
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
WEDNESDAY LINEUP
No athletic events scheduled
Hugh Jessiman ’06 returns to Dartmouth to finish degree B y gayne kalustian The Dartmouth Staff
“A Draft Bust Playing in Vienna Pictures Life After Hockey,” reads a Nov. 2014 New York Times headline, the photo below it featuring a suit-clad Hugh Jessiman ’06 staring into the camera as horse-drawn carriages pass him in the streets of Vienna, Austria. Further down, two more in-line photographs accompany the story. In the first, a 19-year-old Jessiman stands tall after the 2003 NHL draft, smiling wide. A New York Rangers hat covers his head, hiding what Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet called a “flow Hugh will tell you he doesn’t have anymore.” In the second, he stands in his Vienna Capitals jersey, his face missing that draft-day, tenthousand-mile smile he regularly wears, his reflection in a locker room mirror shrouded in an ominous darkness. The New York Times article details Jessiman’s statistics and his nine-year stint bouncing around the National, American, Kontinental and European hockey leagues. The article describes a first round pick for the NHL — 12th overall — who is now looking at “wearing loafers to work, not skates” and “letting go of his NHL dreams.” From the opening lines describing how the locals “largely ignore” the impressive player to the final footnote describing the alternate headline that appeared in print, it appears as the eulogy for a once-great prospect, living a new life without hockey, taking business classes on the side to prepare for the final “transition.” It is a story. There is a beginning, a middle and an all too-obvious end. But it isn’t Hugh Jessiman’s story. “I’m an adventurer,” Jessiman said on a bench in Carson Hall, back in Hanover to finish his final five classes, leaning over to rest his elbows on his knees and smiling the same toothy grin he sported back on draft day — now one tooth less toothy after 12 more years of hockey. In his freshman year at Dartmouth, Jessiman accrued 47 points in 34 games before scoring 33 points in the 34 games he played during his sophomore season. He stayed at Dartmouth for his junior
year, but was sidelined with a torn deltoid and surrounding ligaments early on in the season, feeling, he said, “immense” pressure from the Rangers to set aside Dartmouth hockey and the traditional fouryear college experience to get his professional career underway. With three terms between him and his degree, Jessiman made the decision to leave the College behind. “I knew what I was giving up: my senior year,” he said. “I also had seen skiers and military guys at Dartmouth enjoying it at a later age, so it was an assurance for me to say to myself, ‘Hey, I will finish,’ and I made a promise to my mom that I would. I didn’t know what it would be like, but I trusted seeing those guys go through it that it would be okay.” Education, for Jessiman, wasn’t simply an option if professional hockey didn’t work out. It was a promise made long ago to his parents and himself. As the nephew, grandson, brother, cousin and son of nine College alumni, Jessiman couldn’t imagine finishing the decade-long quest for his bachelor’s degree at any other school. “I was the product of Dartmouth,” he said. “It’s a pretty special experience to be here. My parents met on the Phi Delt lawn at some Green Key party or something. Dartmouth definitely runs in my blood.” Upon first departing from Hanover, Jessiman bounced between the American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League, not fully recovering from the ankle injury that cut his junior collegiate season short until his third year in professional hockey. After a 42-point season with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the 200708 season, he was traded to the Nashville Predators organization and assigned to the Milwaukee Admirals, scoring 20 goals for the team in his debut season. In June of 2009, Jessiman lost his mother — Laura Woodberry Jessiman ’80 — to a hiking accident. The two were close, he said, and growing up, she played a big role in his formation as a person and a hockey player. When asked about his mother, he didn’t shift uncomfortably in his seat or avoid the question. Instead, he told a
Courtesy of Hugh Jessiman
Drafted 12th overall in the 2003 NHL draft, Hugh Jessiman ’06 spent years playing hockey before returning to Dartmouth.
story. “A lot of times my mom would be the one that would drive us to the games, and one time specifically — she used to always tell this story — we were driving home from Albany and she was driving us home, like six kids and you don’t shower when you’re 10 years old,” he said. “So she gets pulled over in upstate New York and she rolls down her window and the cop says, ‘Excuse me,’ and immediately goes, ‘Oh, what is that smell?’ And he says, ‘Do you know how fast you’re going?’” He continues the story. “And she said, ‘Yeah, sorry I was really going a little bit fast, but I was trying to rush home ’cause I got these kids.’ He goes, ‘That is just an awful smell. You know what, honestly, just drive safe,’” Jessiman said. He struggled during the start of the 2009-2010 season after her passing, he said, feeling fine but not quite “mentally there.” Before a game, Jessiman’s coach pulled him aside and told him that even though he was in a tough spot emotionally, the team needed something from him if he wanted to stay. That night, he skated onto the
ice, scored a goal and served a fighting major, kicking off one of his most successful stretches of professional hockey, and ultimately ended the season with 42 points. By the end of next season, he was called up to play in the National Hockey League with the Florida Panthers, where he played his two career NHL games. He got in one fight inthe NHL, sending his opponent Troy Bodie to the ice from the heights of his 6’9” frame on skates. The following spring, he came back to Dartmouth for the first time, joining his sister Margaret Jessiman ’12 for her junior year. “It’s funny because when I was here… You know, you have a feeling of it’s your school, your place, your home,” Jessiman said. “So I called my sister up and said, ‘Hey do you mind if I come back for school?’ She was obviously excited and pumped and called me the next day and said, ‘Hey, just so you know if you come back you gotta be a good boy. My reputation is here and established, and I do not need you screwing it up!’ I laughed, but I honestly made a point of respecting that because it was her time, her place, her
school.” The following fall, Jessiman rejoined the AHL for three more seasons, playing for a handful of teams before pausing his career in Binghamton and heading overseas. Jessiman spent the next two seasons in Europe, the first of which he described as “the best year of [his] life” and “a daily adventure.” In 2013, the year he left the Binghamton Senators, Jessiman was awarded the IOA/American Speciality AHL Man of the Year award , his second time receiving the honor in his professional hockey career — the first coming in Hartford . Jessiman mentioned the first award in his interview at the end of a list explaining why he was “having a good year” in the 2006-2007 season. He didn’t mention winning it again with the Senators for organizing a team effort to support victims of Hurricane Sandy before individually volunteering in three separate community services initiatives later in the season. The awards, the humility and the decision to come back to school this winter, though, come as no surprise to Gaudet, who SEE JESSIMAN PAGE 5