The Dartmouth 04/28/16

VOL. CLXXIII NO.70

MOSTLY SUNNY

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

CHANGES IN ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF OVER TIME

HIGH 56 LOW 27

Staff grows by 441 in past 5 years

By PARKER RICHARDS The Dartmouth Staff

PRIYA RAMAIAH/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

ARTS

REVIEW: EYEWASH SERIES PAGE 8

SEQUENTIA REVIVES MEDIEVAL MUSIC PAGE 8

OPINIONS

CHIN: CHANGE YOU CAN SPEND PAGE 6

READ US ON

DARTBEAT DEAR LONE PINING DARTMOUTH MEMES: TAG YOUR FRIENDS FOLLOW US ON

TWITTER @thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2016 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.

Events focus on sexual assault

By ALEXANDRA PATTILLO The Dartmouth

As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month this April, College organizations such as the Sexual Assault Peer Advisors and the student-led organization Movement Against Violence have spearheaded an awareness campaign and planned multiple events aiming to spark conversation around issues relating to sexual assault.

Dartmouth, like many college campuses, struggles with issues of sexual violence.

“As far as the statistics

go, we’re not exceptional in numbers. But we aren’t an exception either,” Saemi Han ’18, MAV director said.

The SAPAs kicked off Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a general awareness campaign, publicizing national statistics as well as statistics about sexual assault at Dartmouth.

By spreading awareness of the subject, the SAPAs hope to promote conversation about sexual violence, as they feel like one of the primary barriers to ending sexual violence is that no one wants to discuss the issue.

The SAPAs organized a

ribbon tying event, allowing Dartmouth students and community members to show support for survivors by tying a ribbon around their backpack in solidarity. For every ribbon taken, a ribbon was also tied to the tree outside of Collis.

The tree is a public show of support for anyone who has struggled with sexual violence or related traumas and an acknowledgement of how difficult such experiences can be.

“Extending the conversation outside of these events is the only

Administrative bloat has become the calling-card for campus reformers, but here at Dartmouth, the slight increases in staffing numbers are less clear-cut.

Over the past few years, there has been only slight growth in Dartmouth’s senior administration. Since 2012, three senior administrative positions have been added, three have been removed and three have been renamed or shifted between different administrative divisions.

The entirely new additions are the vice provost for student affairs, the senior vice provost for research and the senior vice provost for academic initiatives.

The director of institutional research was removed from senior administrator status, the vice provost position was eliminated and the jobs of senior vice president and senior advisor were removed.

The College added 441 staff positions between 2010 and 2015 — the most recent year for which figures are available

SEE SAAM PAGE 2

— representing a spike of over 14 percent, according to the College’s publicly available Common Data Set statistics released through the Office of Institutional Research.

The growth of staff at Dartmouth is not unique amongstcollegesanduniversities nationwide. University of St. Thomas theology professor Randall Smith has written extensively on administrative bloat in academia, something that he compared to lemmings rushing to follow the leader.

“It’s like an army adding 15 more colonels and 50 more generals, but no more privates,” he said.

Johns Hopkins University political science professor Benjamin Ginsberg, author of “Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why it Matters” (2011), said the number of university administrators across all schools has increased by roughly 300 percent over the past four decades. If the number of administrators were cut back SEE ADMIN PAGE 3

‘Dartmouth Student’ app aggregates campus services

By TIANHANG DONG The Dartmouth

From checking available meal swipes to homework on Canvas to seeing if there’s a laundry machine open, an app built by three Dartmouth ’17s hopes to put the aspects of student life all in one place.

Sean Cann ’17, Tyler Fisher ’17 and Kevin Neilson ’17 founded the company Seabird, launching the “Dartmouth Student” app in September of 2014. Now, with over 2,800 downloads and around 1,000 users on the most recent April up-

date, the app is one of many products the start-up has created for schools.

The app aggregates several campus services Dartmouth students use into one platform, including Canvas, Banner, laundry machine availability and Dartmouth Dining Services swipe balances.

The idea of building Dartmouth Student originated from the inconvenience they experienced as students trying to navigate information online, Neilson said.

Neilson first built an app in 2010 for his high school, the Delbarton School in New Jersey. After he

arrived at Dartmouth, he showed his app to his freshman floormates Cann and Fisher. Together, the three started discussing the possibility of making similar apps for other high schools. They then created an app for Cann’s high school, St. Edwards High School in Ohio.

After receiving some positive reviews of their previous work, they decided to create a similar app for Dartmouth.

Fisher said that there were similar apps already in existence that were created by the College but that students he spoke to were dissatisfied

with them.

“Nobody we knew actually had that app on their phone, so we knew there was room for improvement,” Fisher said.

Fisher said the initial process of building the app was time-consuming. He described two months of long hours for all three before a arriving at fully functioning prototype, but the group has since improved their abilities and efficiency.

While the initial financial costs were minimal, the sale of their first SEE APP PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 2

April campaign drives awareness FROM SAAM PAGE 1

way we can get the entire community on the same page,” SAPA Megan Mounts ’18 said.

The SAPAs also executed the Clothesline project, another visual representation of how many Dartmouth students wish to show their solidarity with survivors of sexual assault on campus.

A dozen t-shirts, decorated by Dartmouth students, are strung up across Collis atrium, covered in words that Dartmouth students wish to say to survivors of sexual assault: “We’re here for you,” “Break the silence,” “Dartmouth unite to Take Back the Night” and “Together we stand.”

The SAPAs also hosted a Take Back the Night rally, during which students gathered together to march across campus and show their support.

The most recent event, Wednesday’s Denim Day, continued the trend of public demonstrations of support for sexual assault survivors. Denim Day is part of a national movement and sexual violence prevention and education campaign, during which individuals are encouraged to wear jeans to raise awareness of rape and sexual assault.

The sexual violence prevention and education campaign seeks to combat the negative misconceptions and

destructive attitudes surrounding sexual assault.

The Denim Day campaign was originally started after a rape conviction in the Italian Supreme Court was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim.

MAV hosted a screening of the award winning documentary, “The Hunting Ground” (2015), an exposé of sexual assault on college campuses. The documentary brought issues of sexual assault home for many of the audience members as it mentions Dartmouth and includes interview footage with former interim College President Carol Folt.

About 90 people attended the screening and many viewers asked how they could get involved after the viewing.

Last night, the Alpha Pi Omega sorority hosted it’s fourth annual “1 in 3” dinner, a dinner and discussion focused on raising awareness of sexual assault in the Native community, drawing over 60 attendees. The event name refers to the statistic that one in three Native American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, vice president of Alpha Pi Omega Bazille

Owens-Reese ’15 said.

This year, for the first time, the SAPAs took charge in planning and executing events during Sexual Assault Awareness Month through the Student Wellness Center.

SAPAs undergo a 32-hour training course to serve as a resource for students who have been confronted with issues of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. These students work with survivors, secondary survivors — UGAs, friends, family or partners — and help to educate the Dartmouth community about sexual assault and intimate partner violence.

“SAPA provides a necessary alternative to any sort of college or adult presence,” Mounts said.

The SAPAs fit into a greater network of sexual assault resources on campus that includes the Wellness Center, Dick’s House counseling and human development, the judicial affairs adjudication process and Title IX coordinator Heather Lindkvist.

Next year, the SAPAs and MAV hope for greater attendance and for people to take initiative to come to these events, even if they do not understand the issues surrounding sexual assault.

“Everyone is probably on the same page of wanting to make our campus more welcoming and safe, and that should be a given,” Mounts said.

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

WORK HARD, PLAY HARD

TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Tiltfactor Lab held an open house to display the work that the office does.

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

The photo of professor Michael Casey on page eight of the April 27 issue of The Dartmouth Mirror was attributed to Kate Herrington. It was, in fact, taken by Paula Mendoza.

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

PAGE 3

Staff grows by 14 percent, faculty by 6 percent over past 5 years FROM ADMIN PAGE 1

to what it was 40 years ago, he said, colleges could cut tuition substantially for their students.

“If the number of deans and deanlets and ding-a-lings was decreased to the number we had 40 years ago, the savings could reduce tuition by 40 percent,” he said.

Colleges often cite federal and state mandates, especially around data reporting, as the impetus for increased administrative positions.

These mandate-based posts only account for around a third of total administrative growth, Ginsberg said, with the rest being internally generated.

“Colleges choose to spend their money on administrators rather than on education,” he said. “The bloat — one might say blight — of administrators is harmful in another way as well: it gradually and inexorably changes the goals of a college.”

Over the 2010 to 2015 period, Dartmouth added 47 faculty members in the arts and sciences division. An additional 15 faculty members joined one of the professional schools — the Tuck School of Business, the Geisel

School of Medicine or the Thayer School of Engineering. This represents a 6 percent increase in faculty over five years, accompanied by a 14 percent increase in staff over the same time span.

Looking further back to 2005, however, the total growth of faculty has exceeded that of staffing. While the College’s faculty size increased by 6 percent between 2005 and 2015, there has been a 14 percent growth in staff over that same period. The College’s staff numbers dipped between 2005 and 2010 before rising again in the past five years, peaking at 3,603 in 2014.

The OIR is a six-person office whose job is to research the College, primarily focusing on demographic statistics like those released in the Common Data Set and other files.

It is headed by the associate provost for institutional research, a position once considered — as director of institutional research — a senior administrative position. Today, the post is not considered senior administration, according to organizational charts available on the OIR’s website.

A position is considered “senior administration” if the office-holder is

“in charge of a major division,” College spokesperson Diana Lawrence said.

It is easy for administrators to deflate administrative hiring numbers by only referring to high-level posts as senior administration, Smith said. Colleges do so by hiding larger administrative growth in middle-level posts well below the senior administrative pay grade, where such additions are less noticeable to casual observers.

“We’re not just talking about vice presidents or deans or something like that — although usually there are a few more of those — we’re talking about a whole midlevel staff of people,” he said.

Additionally, each new vice president, vice provost or dean typically needs their own staff, he said.

Ginsberg agreed, adding that collegestryto“hide”newadministrators and staff.

“It’s often difficult in a private institution to find out how many administrators there actually are,” he said.

Not all administrators are bad, Ginsberg said, but the proliferation of administrators at the college level spells doom for college budgets and

education generally.

“We’ve gone beyond the useful to the harmful,” he said. “Administrators, counselors — they do things that we need, but we don’t need six of them to do what one could do.”

Lawrence wrote in an email that the senior administrative turnover at Dartmouth “has been conservative.”

One new position, that of senior vice president for advancement, actually substantially consolidated administrative functions at the College, Lawrence said. The role was created under former College President Jim Yong Kim to centralize oversight of the alumni relations office, development division and the public affairs office.

Under interim College President Carol Folt, however, the public relations functions were once again spun off, a change that College President Phil Hanlon made official, recreating a senior administrative post to oversee the public relations staff.

Senior vice president for advancement Robert Lasher did not respond to a request seeking comment.

Lawrence noted that positions are adjusted in response to institutional priorities. She described the “higher

education marketplace” as national, commenting that the College must compete for the most talented senior leadership in the country.

The College is in “the low to mid range” in comparison to other Ivy League institutions in terms of compensation for senior administrators, Lawrence said. A 2014 report from The Chronicle of Higher Education found that of the then-incumbent Ivy League presidents, Dartmouth ranked secondto-last for compensation. The most highly paid Ivy League president was Columbia University’s Lee Bollinger who made $3.4 million in 2014. Jim Yong Kim made just over $750,000.

One position not considered senior administration is vice provost for enrollment, a job created this year. Lee Coffin will also assume this position in addition to the senior administrative role of dean of admissions and financial aid later this year. Coffin, who did not respond to a request seeking comment, will take on both roles going into the next round of admissions to the College.

The dean of admissions and financial aid post was previously held by Maria Laskaris who has taken over the new — and non-senior administration — job of special assistant to the provost for arts and innovation. Laskaris also did not respond to a request for comment.

Laskaris’s new role focuses on the Hood Museum of Art, the Hopkins Center for the Arts and the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network. The role is an entirely new one that previously was encompassed within lower levels of management at the respective institutions.

When Coffin’s vice provost role was announced, University of California, Los Angeles education professor Patricia McDonough said in an interview at the time that the job was likely tied to the new concept in admissions known as “enrollment management.”

Lawrence declined to release the salaries for either positions, but according to HigherEdJobs.com, a database that collects information on the salaries of academic administrators at the post-secondary level, a chief enrollment management officer might make on average $140,000 a year.

Of the 19 senior administrators listed on the College’s 2014 990 tax form, the average compensation was just under $500,000 annually. Chief investment officer Pamela Peedin had the highest compensation at the College at $1.1 million. This includes substantial bonuses totaling $600,000, more than Hanlon’s base salary of $530,092.

Hanlon also received a bonus of $100,000 and both he and Peedin received further compensation through deferred compensation, nontaxable benefits and “other” compensation, SEE ADMIN PAGE 5

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

PAGE 4

DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY All Day

Summer term course election period

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Exploring specific moments from the rich tapestry of religious culture in China, the exhibit shows different ways for interacting with the divine, attaining transcendence, and establishing community. This variety of ideas and practices hint at the complex interactions between traditions and communities in China, and beyond, and show the richness of religious life and experience, limited only by the human imagination.

“Empowering Entrepreneurs in the Digital Economy,” panel discussion, Borelli, Raether Hall

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

“Monks Singing Pagans: Medieval songs of heroes, gods and strong women,”performed by Sequentia, directed by Benjamin Bagby, a performance of Medieval music, Rollins Chapel

TOMORROW

“Reproductive Suppression in Response to Novel Males,” lecture by Jacinta Beehner, Room 001, Rockfeller Center

4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Water River Life Giver Symposium, keynote speech by Navajo Nation vice president Jonathan Nez, Dartmouth Hall 105

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

“Lifted: Art as a Form of Social Resistance,” student performance showcase, Collis Common Ground

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 0199-9931

Exhibition: April 5 – June 24, 2016 Exhibition poster design by Dennis Grady

2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Berry Main Street Baker-Berry Library

Thursday,

May 5, 2016 4-6pm Free & Open to the Public Exhibition curated by Gil Raz and cosponsored by the Religion Department, Dean of Faculty Office, and Baker-Berry Library

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

Experts criticize the staff expansion trend FROM ADMIN PAGE 3

the purpose of which was not listed on the 990 forms.

Within the College’s administration, individual divisions have experienced dramatic shifts over time. The division of the president has expanded from 57 employees in 2005 to 224 employees in 2015. Lawrence attributed the change primarily to the athletics department’s move from the Dean of the College’s division to the president’s. Over the same period, the Dean of the College’s division also increased from 262 in 2005 to 298 in 2015, with a dip to 229 staff members in 2010.

Lawrence emphasized that the headcount statistics are a snapshot from a given time and do not represent fulltime equivalent staff, a figure that she said the College does not make publicly available. Still, the vast majority of the College’s staff are full-time. In 2015, 3,114 of the College’s staff were full-time while 383 were part-time.

The bulk of the College’s part-time employees — 110 — were employed in the provost’s division.

The president’s division is one of just two majority male divisions at the College, along with the division of

the executive vice president which has similarly grown over the past decade, from 592 employees in 2005 to 771 in 2015. Lawrence attributed the male majority in the president’s division staff to the inclusion of the athletic department, which is itself majority male.

According to Lawrence, most of the changes in the staff lists available by division through the OIR result from “structur[al] changes through time to meet the needs of each administration.

That’s to be expected.”

Overall, the executive vice president’s division, the president’s division and Tuck have experienced relatively substantial staff growth over the past decade while the provost’s division has experienced a decline, from 1,105 employees in 2005 to 858 in 2015. Other divisions have remained essentially steady in staffing levels overall, with some year-over-year fluctuation.

For some colleges, it is already too late, and “all is lost,” Ginsberg said. For the remaining colleges and universities, like Dartmouth, Ginsberg said the only hope is that students, parents and alumni demand accountability and responsible hiring practices.

PAGE 5

Creators plan for new updates FROM APP PAGE 1

menu and the ability to see which washers and dryers are available across campus,” Phares said. “I’m also impressed that it allows for an easy way to sign into Banner from my phone.”

Qianyi Yong ’19 expressed interest in downloading the app after hearing about its functions and its accessibility for iPhones.

app to Elyria Catholic High School in Ohio did provide funding for their later projects.

Neilson added that Dartmouth has been an encouraging environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.

“Dartmouth is incredibly supportive of new ideas and startups,” Neilson said, “Sevadding that he and his “Over the summer, we e r a l team shared the app with will be increasing our t i m e s College President Phil I went Hanlon during his office outreach efforts and to the hours. expect to partner with a l a u n Fisher added that he lot more schools to help dr o or my and his partners have incorporated skills gained solve their organizational a n d through their coding exfound difficulties.” periences at the College n o to build the apps. m a Seabird has received - SEAN CANN ’17, COchine positive feedback from availusers since the release of FOUNDER OF SEABIRD able, the app, Cann wrote in or I an email. went Kelsey Phares ’17, t o who has been using DartKAF mouth Student since her a n d sophomore year, said she has found found that it was closed,” she the app to be useful. said. “This information is avail“Every time I use it I find a new able online for sure, but not that feature, like links to the dining accessible on iPhone.”

Cann added that future prospects of the app include new features and an Android version.

Cann said that they hope to make improvements based off of data they will collect through a suggestion portal and data analytics.

They also plan on creating a more personalized experience for users.

Other current updates include a new food portal feature which allows students to see dining facility hours and daily menus. In the future the app will incorporate detailed special hours of service of the dining facilities, Cann said.

Besides this app for Dartmouth, their company, Seabird, also has apps that serve other schools.

They now have five clients, with the prospect of a rapid expansion in the near future.

“Over the summer, we will be increasing our outreach efforts and expect to partner with a lot more schools to help solve their organizational difficulties,” Cann said.

Cann said that their experiences as students have allowed them to better identify users’ needs.

“The three of us who created Seabird Apps are all students, and we know exactly what a student wants to use,” Cann said.

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

PAGE 6

STAFF COLUMNIST CLARA CHIN ’19

GUEST COLUMNIST BRYAN THOMSON ’16

Change You Can Spend

The Real Cost of $20.16

Why featuring different faces on paper money supports democracy.

Replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, along with placing women and civil rights activists on other bills, is a subtle way of creating sociopolitical change. Seeing new faces on our money won’t solve any big policy problems. Nevertheless, it redefines the way we think of our nation’s founders and, perhaps more importantly, symbolizes that the politics of race and gender have a place in our society.

During a typical day as a college student, my interactions with money revolve around deciding whether to buy snacks from the vending machine. I don’t look at my money and think about how George Washington or Andrew Jackson formed this great nation. I have never thought about the fact that our money only features white men, many of whom owned slaves and, like Jackson, created roadblocks for Native American rights. I do, however, recall thinking that the dollar coin was cool because it featured a Native American woman; I did not consider the possibility of extending this “coolness” to our paper money, I also did not think that such a modification would be politically important. The men on our legal tender carry literal and figurative value, and because we see them on our paper money every day, we forget to think critically about them.

When Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew initiated this change, I started to imagine the historical significance of adding different faces to our paper money. Featuring civil rights activists like Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman would redefine what it means to be valuable to our nation.

It demonstrates the importance of racial and gender equality to the progress of our country, while traditional notions of equality in the days of Washington and Jackson focused on economic differences between white men.

Many supporters of keeping Jackson on the $20 bill claim that he was “more important” than Harriet Tubman. For instance, David Greenberg wrote in Politico in 2015 that Jackson “made American democracy democratic.” In many ways, this

is an argument that perpetuates itself. One of the reasons we deem Jackson so important is because he is on a bill. While Jackson was certainly an accomplished president, paying off the national debt and strengthening presidential power, it is difficult to dismiss his aggressive support for the Indian Removal Act and his condescending treatment towards Native Americans. So why is it that the accomplishments of Harriet Tubman, who worked towards universal equality, a pillar of democracy, are so easily minimized? One major difference is due to time. Clearly, modern-day political consensus is different from political consensus in 1928, when Jackson was added to the $20 bill. Jackson was not the first person on the $20 bill, nor should he be the last. The bill has changed before, and it can definitely change again. It is time to redefine what Greenberg calls a “key to birthing the expansive American democracy we know today.” It is time to revisit who we consider valuable in our current political world.

This change also demonstrates the importance of social activism. Many current faces on U.S. currency held high positions in the government, such as president. Many of the candidates for the new faces of currency are activists who worked separately from, and sometimes against, the government. Though ironic, this change is a reminder that there is value beyond formal, well-celebrated positions.

Just as figures like Washington serve as old symbols of democracy, American activists like Anthony and King could serve as role-models for modern-day activists who want to expand the meaning of liberty and democracy. That is, after all, what our money stands for, even if we don’t actively think about it.

When the new $20 bill comes out in 2020, I won’t think about the accomplishments of each figure every single day, but hopefully, the importance of activists and activism in modern-day America will become accepted.

This small gesture towards the efforts of activists will continue to shape democracy in our country.

6175 ROBINSON HALL, HANOVER N.H. 03755 • (603) 646-2600

REBECCA ASOULIN, Editor-in-Chief ANNIE MA, Executive Editor

RACHEL DECHIARA, Publisher MAYA PODDAR, Executive Editor

SARA MCGAHAN, Managing Editor MICHAEL QIAN, Managing Editor PRODUCTION EDITORS REEM CHAMSEDDINE, Opinion Editor NICOLE SIMINERI, Opinion Editor ANDRES SMITH, Opinion Editor CAROLINE BERENS, Mirror Editor HAYLEY HOVERTER, Mirror Editor GAYNE KALUSTIAN, Sports Editor RAY LU, Sports Editor HALLIE HUFFAKER, Arts Editor KOURTNEY KAWANO, Assistant Arts Editor

PRIYA RAMAIAH, Managing Editor BUSINESS DIRECTORS HANNAH CARLINO, Finance & Strategy Director HAYDEN KARP-HECKER, Advertising Director ADDISON LEE, Advertising Director NOAH GRASS, Operations & Marketing Director BRIANNA AGER, Operations & Marketing Director ALISON GUH, Design Director JEREMY MITTLEMAN, Technology Director

ANNETTE DENEKAS, Dartbeat Editor MAY MANSOUR, Dartbeat Editor KATELYN JONES, Multimedia Editor KATE HERRINGTON, Photography Editor ELIZA MCDONOUGH, Assistant Photography Editor ANNIE DUNCAN, Assistant Photography Editor

ISSUE

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

NEWS EDITOR: Estephanie Aquino, LAYOUT MANAGER: Jaclyn Eagle, TEMPLATING EDITOR: Jaclyn Eagle.

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.

Why I will not be donating to the Senior Class Gift.

With just over a month until Commencement, my inbox has been besieged by cheerful blitzes encouraging me to contribute to the Senior Class Gift. These contributions are supposed to make a Dartmouth education affordable for the entering freshman class. More realistically, the recommended donations of $20.16 barely dent one of the more expensive price tags in the Ivy League: a $66,174 direct cost of attendance for the 2016-2017 school year. The Senior Class Gift’s primary utility, rather, is as an indicator of the graduating class’s satisfaction with the college, used as a public relations tool to compare our rate of giving with those at our peer institutions.

It is tragicomic that the Senior Class Gift committee asks for contributions from a class that has yet to make a cent beyond Hanover – a class whose individual members, on average, carry a $15,660 debt burden. When an institution as rich as Dartmouth, whose endowment stands at $4.7 billion, relies on the generosity of indebted seniors to complete next year’s financial aid packages, affordability is not being prioritized properly. I am choosing not to contribute to Dartmouth because of its repeated failure to provide the best possible undergraduate education at a reasonable price. While I am thankful for benefiting from financial aid, the tutelage of world-class professors, flexibility in my off terms and a diverse student body, each of these aspects critical to my education has suffered due to misguided decisions.

In the four years since my matriculation, I have struggled to support or even justify a single major policy decision that the administration has put forth. My friends and I have experienced a decline in the well-being and independence allotted to the student body with each passing year. For example, despite opposition from the student body, College President Phil Hanlon’s “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy initiative banned hard alcohol consumption on campus, regardless of age, and instituted walkthroughs to monitor dorm activities. Associated harsh penalties have forced high-risk freshman parties underground, creating a perverse incentive structure to avoid seeking treatment for alcohol poisoning. The silent, duplicitous war on the Greek system has decreased my and others’ houses’ autonomy through an ever-expanding series of nonsensical, unnecessary regulations.

None of the additional bureaucracy or monitoring is welcome, yet it grows each term.

The administration has rapidly cultivated a tense, bitter and beleaguered campus climate.

Recently, even more serious changes have left me astounded at the disconnect between student needs and administrative directive.

While I was able to take advantage of my Advanced Placement credits to travel abroad, reduce my course load over stressful quarters and save tuition, AP credits are no longer accepted as course credits for the Class of 2018 and beyond. Similarly, the decision to end needblind admissions for international students and to reinstate need-aware policies is extremely disheartening. I have friends who only applied to and enrolled at Dartmouth because it was one of the only affordable school for them. I

do not want to imagine a Dartmouth without these deserving people.

Finally, and most disturbingly, the recent choice to invest some many millions of dollars — the exact number is publicly unavailable — to create temporary tent structures for new housing communities is as absurd as it sounds.

Freshmen will continue to live in the Choates, moldy cinder-block housing from the late 1950s, and the River, where the tiny rooms flooded my freshman year, while newly hired assistant directors dream up more ways to funnel student life into pre-selected, pre-approved activities.

I refuse to contribute to an institution that prioritizes misguided projects over student initiatives. In conjunction, these decisions have worsened my Dartmouth experience, all while painting a clear picture of Hanlon’s vision for the College. The administration prioritizes the superficial, regulating affiliation and enrollment from the top down. Now, more time is devoted to renaming Greek Letter Organizations and Societies than to improving the more pressing issues that students actually struggle with on campus: affordability, sexual assault and mental health, among others. The administration’s understanding of progress stands in sharp contrast to Dartmouth’s old values of striving to cultivate an independent, critically-minded student body in an affordable manner. These values influenced my decision to attend Dartmouth, yet we may soon find the College an irreparably damaged shell of its former self.

Investment is a zero sum activity. If money is spent on tent cities, this same money does not fund international student aid or professors’ salaries. If you choose to donate to the Senior Fund, this frees up money to be spent on more deans, more superficial fixes and more community walkthroughs. If Dartmouth truly cared to “make an experience like ours a reality for future members of the Class of 2020,” to borrow the words of a recent Dartmouth College Fund email, then the administration would devote its already bountiful funds to attracting the best and brightest, regardless of nationality or economic background.

I eagerly await the day when issues of affordability and quality of education take precedence over lip service and press releases.

I hope my classmates reflect on what their donations entails, and how such contributions affirm the administration’s vision. Where student opposition has failed, collective action may be effective. I have no doubt that the College is extremely sensitive to alumni satisfaction and is loath to permanently lose decades-long financial support. Beginning with our Class of 2016, alumni solidarity in refusing to donate may alert the higher-ups that their deaf policies aren’t as beloved as they seem through the rose-colored windows at Parkhurst Hall.

I came to Dartmouth to grow, not to be stifled. I leave hoping to improve our community, not to pass through it silently.

Until the administration seeks student input before making decisions, I cannot in good faith contribute to the College while its leaders callously march on into the vale.

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

PAGE 7

COLUMNIST MERCEDES DE GUARDIOLA ’17

GUEST COLUMNIST JESSICA LINK ’17

Unhealthy Education

On Southern Ignorance

Dartmouth needs to be more flexible with P.E. requirements.

Contempt toward the South is unhelpful to solving the region’s problems.

With childhood and adult obesity rates over sophomore summer over experience in remaining high and posing significant health leading a student organization or mentoring problems in American society, it is important local children. And why should they? that colleges prepare students to become The purpose of the College is to prepare healthy adults. However, the College’s P.E. students for “a lifetime of learning and requirements place an undue burden on of responsible leadership”. Encouraging students and do not support building healthy students to prioritize valuable experience in habits. an extracurricular activity is precisely in line For the sake of comparison, Dartmouth is with the mission of the College. Requiring a one of the few colleges that still requires some random P.E. class is not. sort of physical education credit to graduate. I am not saying that the P.E. requirement In a 2010 survey of four-year colleges, only should dropped entirely. Exercise should be an 39 percent still required students to take P.E. important part of everyone’s life, regardless of down from two thirds in the 1980s. Among skill level. Regular physical activity has been other Ivy League institutions, only Columbia shown to increase life expectancy, improve University and Cornell mental health and University still require re d u c e t h e r i s k a physical education “If Dartmouth wants of cardiovascular credit. disease. Requiring to teach its students Not only is students to take P.E. lifelong skills that help the requirement classes, however, uncommon among them maintain a healthy does not teach them colleges, its offerings to take responsibility lifestyle, a better way at Dartmouth are for their own physical inconvenient. Last to do so would be to well-being. year, College President If Dartmouth offer gym credit in lieu Phil Hanlon made it wants to teach its clear that he considers of P.E. credit. A credit students lifelong increased academic for going to the gym for skills that help them rigor a fundamental part maintain a healthy of his broader “Moving a set number of hours lifestyle, a better way Dartmouth Forward” per week would teach to do so would be to policy initiative. If offer gym credit in the administration students how to manage lieu of P.E. credit. A wants students to their schedule efficiently credit for going to the focus more on their gym for a set number studies, however, it to make time for physical of hours per week also needs to recognize activity.” would teach students that time will be taken how to manage their from something else. schedule efficiently Unlike extracurricular to make time for activities, which can be scheduled around physical acitivity. Since Dartmouth already — class time, physical education classes unofficially — offers a P.E. credit to students are inconveniently scheduled with no who are training, the P.E. department should consideration for the academic timetable. publicize this option to many students who Want to take a P.E. class on Monday, are unaware of it.

Wednesday and Friday from noon to 1 p.m.? Such an option would be fairly easy to It runs into the 11 and 12 class slots. The implement because the Zimmerman Fitness same is true for the early morning classes; Center has a system that tracks students very few students want to get up at 7 a.m. to going in and out, What about students simply attend an intense workout before rushing to loitering in the fitness center? Given that shower, change and get breakfast before their there’s very little space to gather without first class. Even if classes fit neatly into one’s being a nuisance, loitering is unlikely to be schedule, the P.E. class will inevitably conflict an issue. Moreover, if students really want to with x-hours, office hours or labs. get away with doing nothing, it’s just as easy To make things better, the College should to do that in a P.E. class. revise the P.E. schedule so that it adheres When students graduate from Dartmouth, to the class schedule. In addition, come they will enter a workforce that demands at weekend classes could be offered. While the very least a five-day, 9-to-5 commitment weekend programs are available through the each week. Many of them, especially if they Dartmouth Outing Club, it is hard for many work in the technology or financial sector, students to be away for a full day, let alone will be asked to work far beyond the 40 hour a full weekend. A class that takes up one to weekly requirement. Beyond work, they’ll two hours on a Saturday or Sunday would be be responsible for basic time commitments a reasonable commitment if scheduled for a like going to doctor’s appointments, running reasonable time. errands, maintaining their home, handling Moreover, the administration should not bills, keeping up with friends and more. They prioritize P.E. classes over extracurriculars. alone will have to make the commitment each While P.E. classes may help teach students week to find the time to maintain a healthy healthy habits, no employer is going to lifestyle — a skill no P.E. requirement will value the yoga skills you sort of learned ever teach.

About 17 percent of Dartmouth’s student when I’m driving through my neighboring body is from the South. Despite this, many non- state — something I rarely experience in New Southern students act in total awe whenever they England. I think of the Mississippi women from meet a classmate from the region. my rural Southern summer camp who were some “Why don’t you have an accent?” It’s a of the most thoughtful and intelligent people I question Southern students, most of whom have have ever met. I think of our family friends from no noticeable accent, will get on a regular basis. the university town of Oxford, Mississippi who They are asked more often than Californians, are possibly the most adamant Bernie Sanders “What made you want to come all the way up supporters I know. here?” despite the fact that any West Coaster Our region’s culture is entrenched in a history must take a longer trip than a Southern student more problematic than the north. That is not to to get here. say the rest of the country lacks its share of grave I always respond that even my dinky, magnet social, economic and racial problems. Within our public high school had an extremely large number Dartmouth bubble, it is easy to forget about the of students applying to the Ivy League and other social ills and poverty that plague much of rural elite and faraway colleges. Astonishingly, nearly New Hampshire and Vermont. But history’s everyone at my Southern public school knew legacies in the South are greater and more visible what Dartmouth was because our progressive and very few of them enclaves are not as strong spoke with any accent. “If the South is the butt or influential as elsewhere.

My high school exhibited Thus, our institutions of all jokes because of more liberal and of education and socioprogressive sentiment our supposedly change- economic infrastructure among its student body resistant, backwards have failed us when we than Dartmouth does. I have tried time and again admit I come from New culture, how can the to improve.

Orleans, an anomaly rest of America take

I’m now not so of a Southern city, full sure how effective outright of forward-thinking our region’s systemic bans are in the states whose creators and scholars, problems seriously, bigoted governments within a conservative passed these laws. These if they don’t believe state. bans perpetuate the The April 15 New we can or want to misconception that only York Times article an extreme minority “Southern Cities Split change?” of Southerners seek with States on Social progressive improvement, Issues” verifies a fact that which in turn leads to I hope most Dartmouth students already know: ubiquitous disgust of the South among those socially and culturally progressive enclaves are who have never visited it. alive and well in the majority of Southern cities. If the South is the butt of all jokes because Unlike what the article implies, however, these of our supposedly change-resistant, backwards enclaves manifest themselves in more nuanced culture, how can the rest of America take our ways than the simple existence of hipster coffee region’s systemic problems seriously, if they shops. don’t believe we can or want to change? When This is less evident in the wake of the most Dartmouth students truly believe that their spring recent anti-LGBTQIA laws passed in Southern break training trip to Georgia will be an exotic states. The media has informed us that progressive and frightening cultural experience, how could I state governments and organizations nationwide ever convince anyone that Atlanta or some other have vowed to boycott these states — vows that thriving Southern metropolitan area would be I initially supported. an amazing place to work, live and affect change The media, however, failed to inform us of after graduation? Why do we politically-charged the protesters standing in front of their own state students advocate for improving our country’s capitols in Raleigh, North Carolina and, yes, even devastating inequity, and yet shudder when a Jackson, Mississippi waving gay pride flags and friend accepts an internship with a health care begging for a reversal of these hateful laws. provider in rural Alabama, simply because The greater problem being ignored is the “rural Alabama” connotes some immoral, antiutterly anti-democratic system where more intellectual place? populous, diverse and liberal Southern cities have I encourage those not from the South to little to no representation in state governments. realize that most Southern communities are The national response to the discriminatory diverse and full of individuals whose last wish law passed in Mississippi seemed to be a is to spread hate. I urge you all to challenge the resounding, “Well, what did you expect?” It way you may generalize or judge this extremely is true that Mississippi has some of the worst large and diverse part of our country. Instead of social, economic and racial problems in the rolling our eyes at Southern ignorance spewing country. I associate my visits to Mississippi with from the media, let us show the same amount of Confederate flags along the highway. I think of compassion and concern we would show if these rundown shacks and segregated towns and wide laws had been passed in a liberal Northern state. cotton fields that evoke our country’s most evil That would be unacceptable, and the integrity of historical institution. the lawmakers would be questioned rather than Yet I cannot help but think of the unconditional that of the entire state’s population. To me, this kindness and smiles from strangers I encounter double standard is disheartening.

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016

PAGE 8

EYEWASH brings sound and film artists to campus

By DIEGO MORENO The Dartmouth

Exploring the peculiar and innovative world of experimental art, the digital music and film and music department collaborated this spring to produce EYEWASH: Experimental Images and Sounds, a series that brings experimental film, video and sound artists to campus for screenings and performances.

After realizing many experimental artists utilize both audio and visual elements in their works, film and media professor Jodie Mack said she and music professors Spencer Topel and Ashley Fure worked together to curate this year’s program, incorporating sound for the first time since EYEWASH began in 2011.

The collaboration between the two departments was relatively straightforward, Fure said, because the audiences of the previous EYEWASH events and separate digital music-sponsored events held prior to the collaboration overlapped.

One of the goals of the series, Mack said, is to represent various unconventional approaches to making time-based art.

“We’re hoping to broaden the consciousness amongst the student body and community about the possibilities of art that plays out in time,” she said.

In addition to exposing students to different modes of art, Mack said the series helps students develop as artists.

“We want to provide an opportunity for students and community members to engage with working artists,” she said.

The spring series kicked off on April 12 with a presentation by New York-based sound and visual artist and composer Marina Rosenfeld, who performed live turntable collages.

During her demonstration, Rosenfeld used dub plates, a vinyl-like material made out of acetate, to create a textured and highly conceptual sound.

Digital musics graduate student Kyle Kaplan ’16 said Rosenfeld’s process involved creating gestures, or movements, by using the dub plates to press her own sounds while looping and sending effects through delayed pedals.

Fure said Rosenfeld’s art was appealing for EYEWASH programming because it was both conceptual and aesthetic.

“It’s a critical practice and process that engages sound,” she said.

The series continued this past Tuesday with artist, composer and percussionist Eli Keszler performing a semi-improvisational set for a packed room.

The evening began with an unscheduled screening of “Articulation of Boolean Algebra for Film Opticals”

(1975), a film by the late Tony Conrad, an avant-garde video artist and experimental artist who Keszler said inspired him and many other artists in the avant-garde community.

After the film, Keszler set up a drum set, microphones and two large lights for his performance. He said the installation of his work is involved in his general artistry. He uses the installation space to structure music and allow the environment to dictate the music. While this performance did not incorporate a large-scale installation space, it was still overwhelmingly distinctive and emotional.

Keszler played his drums aggressively while using audio recordings from his own compositions to create a mesh of style and sound. Throughout the performance, he changed the sound of his drumming by adding weighted objects. He called the drum a blank slate, which lets him build his own aesthetic style.

The performance incorporated a bow that Keszler used to create sound by sawing on the side of the drum. He said this component of the performance spawned from his desire to figure out a way to create long tones on the drum.

Keszler’s performance was filled with passion and technical skill that culminated in a round of applause from the audience. Julie Solomon ’17 said Keszler’s performance was unlike

ANNIE DUNCAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Audience members watch an opening film at Tuesday’s EYEWASH.

anything she had ever seen before.

“His use of the drum is innovative and exciting,” Solomon said. “Watching him play was mesmerizing.”

Prior to EYEWASH, Keszler gave a talk to students in Music 34, “Advanced Sound Design.” Macy Ferguson ’16, who is enrolled in the music class and attended the show, said Keszler spoke about the various phases of his life during which he experimented with different mediums,

spaces and art forms.

“I think that compilation of variety and depth of experience really came through in his performance,” Ferguson said.

The series will continue with the EYEWORKS Festival of Experimental Animation on May 10 and a performance by visiting artist Jennifer Levonian on May 24. Both events will take place at 7 p.m. in the Black Family Visual Arts Center, room 001.

Sequentia to cast medieval spell at world premiere tonight

By KAINA CHEN

The Dartmouth Staff

Scholarship surrounding the secular music of Medieval monks is rare. Studying, learning and performing music from a period without written music is an intricate process that requires much historical scholarship and musical insight.

For those not inclined to undertake a rigourous study of Medieval music, a firm appreciation of music and history from the Medieval Era — one of the first eras in Western classical music — is available tonight at Rollins Chapel. Sequentia, an ensemble of international singers and instrumentalists, will take the stage for the world premiere of “Monks Singing Pagans: Medieval songs of heroes, gods and strong women.”

The program, which features liturgical and secular music and interpretations of classical texts from the ninth to 13th centuries, is the

result of a collaboration between Sequentia’s director Benjamin Bagby and musicologist Sam Barrett. The two began working together in the mid-1980s on a project entitled “Lost Songs,” a reconstruction of the medieval epic “Beowulf.”

Barrett’s transcribing work on the “Consolation of Philosophy” (526 C.E.), a work by sixth-century philosopher Boethius, will be featured in some of the pieces in the set, including “Fortuna and Philosophia,” “Orpheus: the Power of Song” and “Hercules: Heroic Inspiration.”

Many of the musical performances in the medieval period took place within the walls of European monastic and cathedral schools. The style involved a mixture of singing and speaking with accompaniment from harps or flutes.

Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble director Matthew Marsit said tonight’s performance will primarily

focus on the music that was created and shared in the monasteries, places in medieval times that are analogous to today’s university campuses.

“Very often when we study medieval music it’s music of the Catholic Church for financial and infrastructural reasons,” Marsit said.

Additionally, the program will include a piece about Dido, the first Queen of Carthage, and Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt, that focuses on their tragic but passionate deaths as suicidal pagan queens. To build upon the historical nostalgia created by this performance, charms and incantations will be read aloud to echo the motifs of Boethius’ poetry.

One piece, “Woden and Christ: Cohabitation in the Northlands,” includes a Saxon baptismal oath used when a converted Christian forsakes his former beliefs. Bagby will be performing this piece, which

covers different poisons and refers to pagan gods and Christ curing the poisoned.

Many of the pieces will be performed in the historically accurate language such as Old High German, and translations will be provided.

Vocalist and harpist Hanna Marti and flutist Norbert Rodenkirchen will accompany Bagby for this performance. Rodenkirchen will play bone flutes that resemble the type that medieval shepherds used.

To provide context and clarity, the trio will also take moments during the performance to give background information for the pieces.

To prepare for the premiere of “Monks Singing Pagans,” the ensemble held working sessions with Barrett at Harvard University, Ohio State University and Pembroke College. The final rehearsals took place earlier this week at the University of Cambridge.

“A performance like this can tell us a lot about ourselves,” Hopkins Center programming director Margaret Lawrence said. “This kind of live performance can bring us all into a room together and reflect on who we are as human beings.”

Ethan Falleur ’16, a music and religion double major, said he will be attending the performance tonight.

“As a music student, this performance is significant because it’s reviving some musical traditions that have been lost — it’s a glimpse to our musical past,” Falleur said. “A lot of what will be presented is the forerunner of modern music.”

Tonight’s performance will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $10 for Dartmouth students to $20 for the general public. Bagby will lead a post-performance discussion as part of the ensemble’s residency in collaboration with the College’s music department.