The Dartmouth 5/12/16

VOL. CLXXIII NO.80

SUNNY HIGH 79 LOW 47

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

College sees mumps-like symptoms, but no confirmed cases

By PAULOMI RAO The Dartmouth

ARTS

STUDIO ART SENIORS RECIEVE AWARDS PAGE 8

OPINION

CHIN: NOT JUST A GAME PAGE 6

QU: PRETENSION AND POWER PAGE 7

READ US ON

While several students in the last two weeks have exhibited symptoms consistent with the mumps, Ann Bracken, director of clinical medical studies at Dartmouth, issued an email statement stating the College has seen no cases of mumps on Wednesday.

According to a statement issued by director of counseling and health resources departments Mark Reed, while awaiting test results from the State Public Health Department, the students have self-isolated and the tests so far have come back negative.

Two weeks ago, students received the first of two emails alerting them of Harvard University’s recent outbreak of mumps, with over 40 cases of the contagious viral infection.

Since Harvard first reported its outbreak, Dartmouth’s health services have been in close contact with Harvard’s public health department and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services for guidance in

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dealing with particular cases and preventing the spread of illness.

Staff at Dick’s House encouraged students to use hand sanitizer before and after physical contact, avoid sharing cups and water bottles and exercise proper cough etiquette. In addition, Bracken noted that being immunized with the MMR vaccine significantly reduces the risk of getting mumps. Reed wrote in an email that these measures are effective in preventing the spread of mumps.

In the event that a student was diagnosed with mumps, NH DHHS requires that they be isolated from others from the time of diagnosis until at least five days after the onset of parotitis, Reed said. In addition, those who have not been immunized and have had close contact with people who develop mumps will require isolation for a period of time determined by the NH DHHS. Nursing staff and the primary care preventative staff will conduct twice-daily “wellSEE MUMPS PAGE 3

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Town hall discusses survey

SARA MCGAHAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

In Spaulding Auditorium on Tuesday, around 250 people gathered to discuss the results of the Dartmouth Community Survey released in the fall.

By SAMANTHA STERN The Dartmouth Staff

Around 250 students, faculty, staff and community members attended a town hall yesterday where executive vice president of the College Rick Mills, chief financial officer

Mike Wagner, vice provost for academic affairs Denise Anthony and Provost Carolyn Dever spoke about the results of the Dartmouth C o m mu n i t y S t u dy a n d fielded audience questions on diversity, inclusivity and transparency in the tenure process.

On social media, students have been using the hashtags #fight4facultyofcolor and #dontdodartmouth in response to the College’s decision to deny English professor Aimee Bahng’s application for tenure.

SEE SURVEY PAGE 2

New housing communities adjust for accessibility needs

By JOYCE LEE

The Dartmouth Staff

At Dartmouth, elevators, automatic doors and dorms with ground floor access are some of the more clearly visible signs of accommodations for individuals with disabilities. The new residential housing system was designed

with the way they would accommodate those with physical disabilities on campus, director of education Michael Wooten said.

“The reality of a campus like ours is that it’s a mixture of very old and new, which comes with a considerable challenge for certain disabilities,” Wooten said. “That’s a reality to

the housing system and one that the accessibility services office thinks a lot about, as does residential services.”

Physical and mental disabilities transcend simple mobility issues, however — they affect how students learn, live and contribute to the dialogue that involves the increasingly diverse community on cam-

pus.

In 2013, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that roughly 11.1 percent of all undergraduates in the United States had a disability in the 2011-2012 school year. Disability, as defined by the 1990 American with Disabilities Act, is a physical or mental impairment that limits

one or more major life activity, such as seeing, hearing, sleeping, learning, concentrating, caring for oneself or thinking.

Ward Newmeyer, director of Student Accessibility Services, said that the office serves three main groups: students with disabilities who are aware SEE HOUSING PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

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DAILY DEBRIEFING A study by earth sciences doctoral student Kristin Schild showed that surface meltwater draining underneath Greenland’s glaciers is increasing the rate of their loss of ice mass, EurekAlert reports. Published in the Annals of Glaciology journal, the findings show that glacier meltwater is playing a larger than expected role in the stability of glaciers. This meltwater can weaken glaciers from within and below without obvious visible assessment. The research group studied a tidewater glacier using time-lapse photography and runoff modeling to look at how much of the glacier experienced melting as well as when the meltwater exited the glacier, ultimately demonstrating how meltwater can travel within and beneath a glacier.

According to a new piece co-authored by film studies professor Mary Flanagan, reading from a screen as a opposed to a printed copy can cause people to focus on details rather than the big picture, The Washington Post reports.

The article draws from data from over 300 study participants in experiments carried out at the College’s Tiltfactor game design lab. In one of the experiments, subjects who read a short story on paper rather than a PDF version scored much higher on a pop quiz that required the participant to make inferences about the text, but those who read the paper version scored lower than digital readers on questions that asked concrete questions about the text. Flanagan’s earlier research that found iPad players of a certain game faced more challenges in strategy planning than those using a physical version of the game inspired the studies.

The hunting and eating habits of fish affects the amount of mercury accumulating in them, EurekAlert reports. According to the Dartmouth-led study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, both prey type and quality influence the amount of mercury accumulated by fish. Feeding on bottom-growing plants causes less mercury buildup compared to feeding on plankton in open water. The plankton’s higher mercury but lower calorie content result in less efficient growth in fish, and therefore higher concentrations of mercury in their tissues. Co-author and biology professor Celia Chen is a project leader in Dartmouth’s Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program.

- COMPILED BY PRIYA RAMAIAH

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

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

Survey results released last Tuesday FROM SURVEY PAGE 1

“As far as faculty governance, we feel we have less say than ever.

Tenure is increasingly becoming less of a system that we have control over,” history professor Annelise Orleck said. “I’ve been here 25 years. It’s worse now than it was many years ago when I got here.”

Another student then expounded on Orleck’s concern, explaining that the Committee Advisory to the President, which acts on matters of reappointment, tenure and promotion “is a colorblind system, which equates it to a racist system.” Because one of the qualifications for being on the committee is being a tenured professor, a rank that few faculty members of color attain, she said, there is not adequate minority representation on the CAP. There’s a problem when a process cuts out a whole population of people, she said.

“So don’t sit here and say that you have a commitment to diversity, to people of color on this campus, if you all sitting on that stage can’t acknowledge that the tenure process, across academia, and on this campus is racist,” the student said.

Anthony said that although and sexist institution. He asked institutional privileging of the the administrators both whether status quo is a reality that “needs they were proud of this reputato be rigorously questioned and tion and when the administration attended to,” all forms of decision would begin caring about diversity making are subject to bias. and inclusivity, garnering applause Anthony also said she was wor- from the audience. ried and unA n c o m fo r t a bl e “A s f a r a s f a c u l t y thony and Devwith questionboth said that governance, we feel we er ing the strucno one in the ture of tenure, have less say than ever. administration which is the proud or satTenure is increasingly isisfied professional with the w a y o f r e - becoming less of a results of the viewing peers sursystem that we have community in academia. vey. The quesS h e a d d e d control over.” tioner followedthat replacup asking why ing the tenure students of process with -ANNELISE ORLECK, color do not m ech a n i s m s HISTORY PROFESSOR feel like people that operat the College, ate in other and Dever renon-higher sponded that education identifying the in s tituti o n s, root causes of like voting or alienation was hierarchy, are precis ely th e also subject to intent of the bias. survey.

A student T h e then read aloud a statement from community survey, which was a non-Dartmouth academic describing the College as a racist SEE SURVEY PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

PAGE 3

Students, faculty angered Pink eye not considered an outbreak by tenure decisions FROM SURVEY PAGE 3

conducted by Rankin & Associates — an educational consulting firm that specializes in assessing campus climate in higher education — was meant to address campus climate and is a key component of College President Phil Hanlon’s “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy initiative. The survey was released to all students, faculty and staff in fall 2015, and compiled results were made available last Tuesday. The survey asked students to evaluate the living, learning and working environments within the College.

Among other topics, the questionnaire addressed the community’s treatment of members of the queer community, veterans, non-U.S. citizens, men and women. A total of 2,753 people responded to the survey, for an overall response rate of 26 percent.

During the question and answer session, an audience member from Dartmouth campus services noted that staff are not mentioned within the College’s explicit mission statement and inquired as to whether the administration has given thought to the exclusion. Mills said that the survey calls issues like these to light, while Dever added

that the College developed working groups for staff as well as faculty and students. Inclusiveness means valuing everyone, Dever said.

Wagner began the town hall with a overview of the 2016-2017 operating budget, before passing the microphone to Anthony who presented the reasoning behind and initial findings of the community survey.

Three more community forums will be hosted by administrators this term to address the results of the survey and issues of diversity and inclusivity. The next one, co-sponsored by the Palaeopitus senior society, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 17.

At the start of the town hall while attendees entered Spauld-

ing Auditorium, a Thomas Edison quotation was projected above the stage: “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

Mills noted at the start of the event that many in Dartmouth community have questioned what differentiates this effort to look at campus climate from others. After recognizing this, Mills added that the community must follow Edison’s advice and keep trying.

SAPHFIRE BROWN/THE DARTMOUTH

Dick’s House has not seen any official cases of mumps, despite some students displaying symptoms.

FROM MUMPS PAGE 1

preventative staff will conduct twicedaily “wellness checks” by phone for anyone in isolation, Reed added.

The athletic department has continued to enforce its infection control protocols during the recent contagious symptoms period.

“In the athletic training rooms, we wipe down tables, hard surfaces, and whirlpools,” said Jeffrey Frechette, associate director of sports medicine. “If athletes have concerns, we usually refer them to the health services practices if they think it is more unusual than normal — we want to ensure everyone

is healthy.”

Before news of the recent mumps outbreak at Harvard was announced, a Harvard men’s tennis player had come to Dartmouth for a match. The following day, he was diagnosed with symptoms of mumps.

“In most cases teams have agreed there will not be a postgame handshake,” Frechette said.

“It’s probably overcautious even with the threat of mumps but we still don’t share water sources and are staying vigilant, watching for students who have symptoms that may be at all related.”

Bracken also reported that while campus does not have what she would characterize as a complete outbreak of conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye, there have been a few diagnosed cases at Dick’s House in the past weeks.

“If we see someone with pink eye we ask that they do not come in for treatment until it’s under control,” Frechette said. “We also try to educate people on good hygiene practices—not sharing towels, eating utensils, personal items to promote safer habits.”

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the four main causes of pink eye are viruses, bacteria, allergens and irritants that infect the eye or eyelid lining. Each year during the spring term, Dick’s House staff see an increase in cases of pink eye.

Frechette said he believes it’s more prevalent in the warmer weather because added pollen in the air and extra time spent outdoors causes additional eye irritants.

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THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

“The Anatomy of Envy-Freeness,” assistant professor Kristi Olson, Bowdoin College, 215 Silsby

4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

“They Shoot Black People, Don’t They?” presentation by cartoonist, rapper and multimedia artist Keith Knight, Carpenter Hall 13

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

“Antarctic Cli-Fi: Eco-Fiction and Polar Regions,” discussion and book-signing with Ilija Trojanow and Ross A. Virginia, Moore B03

TOMORROW

2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

“Biological Anthropology: Developmental origins of health disparities,” Dr. Zaneta Thayer, Room 001, Rockefeller Center

3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Screening of “Spotlight” and Q&A with reporters Sacha Pfeiffer and Michael Rezendes, Lowe Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center

8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

“For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf,” Bentley Theater, Hopkins Center

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

SAS provides services to students FROM HOUSING PAGE 1

of their conditions and the support they need on campus, students who are exploring if they may have a disability that they were not aware of previously and the campus at large.

This idea of “universal design,” which Newmeyer said is making sure campus life works for as many people as possible without tweaks or exceptions, is the underpinning of his work. One aspect of this includes the new residential housing system.

Any student who believes they need accommodations can reach out to specify their needs, which could include ground access, a private bathroom and even a room with a special type of soundless fire alarm for those who are unable to hear. The College is also willing to undergo renovations if needed, Wooten said. The housing office was also intentional about placing the majority of Living Learning Centers in McLaughlin Cluster, he added, a newer residential space and one of the most accessible, because they did not want the space to limit who could apply to a program.

“It might not be apparent, but [accessibility] is something we think a lot about,” Wooten said. “We want to be erratically hospitable, for all social identities, race, gender and ability.”

Beth Haller, journalism professor at Towson University and author of “Representing Disability in an Ableist World” (2010), spoke to challenges disabled individuals face in general.

While many universities promote their accommodations, Haller said they do not offer any more information to possible applicants.

“Universities might actually be afraid of students with disabilities because services are underfunded and understaffed,” Haller said. “They pretend that they want to encourage people to apply but they actually do not because they’re afraid they don’t have the services.”

In a workplace environment, many individuals are advised not to

disclose their ability until after employment, she said. A joint Rutgers University and Syracuse University study conducted last November indicated a level of discrimination against qualified workers with disabilities.

Students recently criticized services at schools including Georgetown University for being understaffed and unable to meet the needs of some at the school. In contrast, Haller pointed to the University of Texas at Arlington as one example of a school that supports students with disabilities more than adequately.

Penny Acrey, director of the Office for Students with Disabilities at UTA, said that the school provides service such programs that will read text aloud, sign language interpreters, assisted listening devices and inhouse conversion of print materials to Braille.

At Dartmouth, the accessibility office lists many similar services on its website. However, rather than actively reaching out to students, the office works mainly through direct contact from students or through referral from the housing office, professors, counselors and other mentors whom the student may consult, Newmeyer said.

Compared to the schools he worked at prior to the College, Newmeyer said that there is more of a stigma surrounding disabilities at Dartmouth.

“A student could be put off by an advisor telling them to go to the accessibility office, so the advisor has to do a good job of gauging,” he said. “However, they are very good at directing students to us.”

Newmeyer said that students often voice concerns about how they might be perceived by their peers if it is revealed they have a disability, and said that he senses there is more wariness to students at Dartmouth than when he worked at University of California at Berkeley.

“Students tend to present that they can handle a lot of things, and

they want to be seen as not struggling too much here, and that’s true whether or not of a disability related circumstance,” Newmeyer said.

The office also attempts to aid students who may be discovering their disabilities for the first time.

Newmeyer said that students may not realize they have cognitive disabilities until arriving at Dartmouth, where the pace can be faster with more competition.

“When people on the street hear the phrase ‘learning disabilities’ [instead of cognitive], it’s natural to assume that it affects whether they learn,” Newmeyer said. “That’s not what it is — it affects how we learn; it can add challenges but also add insights.”

Such issues often come up in language courses, Newmeyer said, due to the complexities of learning a new language and the inability to rely on a primary language. Smaller class sizes and the language requirement at Dartmouth may also make such issues more apparent, he said.

Newmeyer described “disability pride,” which he promotes in his work by helping disabled students understand that there are many things about their experiences to be proud of. As an advocate of individuals with disabilities, he deals with the balance of confidentiality and discretion of an individual’s disability while also providing the resources needed available to them.

“I’m only joking in a small way when I say my job is to put myself out of a job, because if we can influence an academic institution into being truly universally designed, then the less students will need to go to some office,” Newmeyer said. “If we really want a variety of thinkers in the student body and different styles of not just thinking but doing, but if our teaching methods are so narrow we make it tougher for people who don’t fit into one mold, we run the risk of making our own student body more insular.”

DEAR OLD DARTMOUTH

PAULA MENDOZA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Asian/American Students for Action hosted a panel yesterday on being Asian at Dartmouth.

PAGE 5

ROCK AND ROLL

PAULA MENDOZA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Rocky VoxMasters hosted a workshop on Wednesday night.

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

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STAFF COLUMNIST ZIQIN YUAN ‘18

STAFF COLUMNIST CLARA CHIN ‘19

Not So Neutral After All

Not Just A Game

Students should not think of social media sites as neutral platforms.

As students, we must use social media sites such as Facebook with some distance and skepticism, recognizing the power they have over us.

Almost all college students use Facebook; since its rise in the mid-2000s, it has become linked with social status, news and even activism. This holds especially true with the relatively new release of the trending articles sidebar — now, when news breaks, for many of us it breaks on Facebook first.

Facebook’s chief executive and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is very aware of this fact, and he has been actively working toward making Facebook more than just a social media platform but also a news platform. In a Q&A session last year, he wrote that, “People discover and read a lot of news content on Facebook, so we spend a lot of time making this experience as good as possible.” He went on to explain, “When news is as fast as everything else on Facebook, people will naturally read a lot more news. That will be good for helping people be more informed about the world, and it will be good for the news ecosystem because it will deliver more traffic.”

Yet Facebook is more powerful than traditional news sources such as NBC or CNN. Unlike the more traditional news sources, Facebook does not have a clear platform and, more importantly, is not expected to have one.

And because of that, it can influence people much more subtly and effectively.

Michael Nunez’s May 9 Gizmodo article on Facebook’s trending news section emphasizes this point. Facebook’s help section explains that “trending shows you a list of topics and hashtags that have recently spiked in popularity on Facebook,” clearly stating that the list is based on popularity. According to Gizmodo, however, former Facebook employees, internally known as “news curators,” attested that they were told to suppress stories related to conservative readers and to inject stories their managers valued more. The scary part is how well this worked — some topics that had not been popular at all became extremely popular after being put on the trending list. On the other hand, the article notes that some topics that were suppressed included former IRS official Lois Lerner, who was accused by Republicans

of inappropriately scrutinizing conservative groups; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; popular conservative news aggregator the Drudge Report; Chris Kyle, the former Navy SEAL who was murdered in 2013; and former Fox News contributor Steven Crowder.

Facebook responded to the article on Tuesday, denying Gizmodo’s allegations that it suppressed conservative stories. Regardless of the truth of the allegations, they bring up an important point — social media platforms such as Facebook have a huge amount of power over what we see and, thus, what we believe.

Even if stories are deliberately injected into Facebook’s trending news section, some may argue that that is not necessarily bad — especially if, for example, the stories were those that were being covered by other traditional news sources and meant to educate the public. But even so, we need to be aware of the fact that a social media platform may manipulate what we see and thus manipulate us into learning what the people behind it think is valuable.

This applies to other platforms, too.

Instagram, for example, has started to curate advertisements into users’ feeds based on user activity. Though platforms are not necessarily changing their algorithms to emphasize some stories and suppress others, they have a huge potential to do so, and we should be increasingly aware of that as we become increasingly linked to the internet and social media.

A 2013 study by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University showed that 87 percent of college students used Facebook; the number now is likely higher. In 2014, researchers at Baylor University found that students spent on average over half an hour a day on Facebook. I personally check Facebook and Instagram multiple times a day, as do most of my friends. Students as a whole are attached to and constantly use social media sites, much more so than other sources of information — and the creators of social media platforms are designing increasingly complex algorithms meant to lure in readers. This reliance on social media means that we should take everything it presents us with a grain of salt, remembering that people have their own beliefs and that even algorithms need to be made by people.

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ISSUE

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

LAYOUT MANAGER: Julia Yoon, TEMPLATING EDITOR: Jaclyn Eagle.

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SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.

Games based on real wars hurt our understanding of war and tragedy.

While reading a book for my class about the Vietnam War, I wondered what the typical combat attire looked like for those engaged in guerrilla warfare. To answer my question, I did a quick Google Image search. While I found many helpful images, I also came across one that was particularly disturbing. It wasn’t, however, disturbing because it was particularly violent. Unlike the other pictures, images of soldiers clad in black clothing armed with weapons, this one depicted similar figures with rice paddy hats — but they were animated. That’s because this image was from a video game. Confused, I continued my Google Search and discovered that there are video games about the Vietnam War, including “Battlefield Vietnam” and “Conflict Vietnam,” as well as a Vietnam level in the popular video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops.” But the Vietnam War is not the only real war depicted in video games. Many volumes of “Call of Duty” focus on World War II. To some, the idea of virtually shooting animated people is already disturbing. Their typical argument is that virtual warfare desensitizes us to the emotional impact of actual war. Given the literal devastation that occurs after wars like World War II and the Vietnam War, real-war video games heighten desensitization not only to general warfare, but may discourage understanding difficult times in history and empathizing with those who have suffered.

It is necessary to establish that video games, even war video games, are not inherently bad. Nevertheless, violent video games tend to have some moral implications.

According to a 2011 study reported on NPR, the brains of people exposed to more violent video games were unresponsive to violent images. Overall, people were more “aggressive” and “numb.” While violent video games may not lead to blatant aggression and violence, they seem to create at the very least a subtle change in everyday behavior, even a greater tolerance and proclivity for violence. Senseless violence itself may not be a symptom of such violent video games, but shorter temper and anger issues may increase. Games like “Call of Duty: Black Ops” that focus on real wars as well as specific war games like “Battlefield Vietnam” are also naturally violent and can lead to this same desensitization to violence in their players.

Warfare and violence in general are morally wrong and disturbing, which is why video games featuring these concepts and the adverse effects on behavior such exposure can cause are problematic. But games about real wars are made more disturbing by their historical and modern-day relevance. United States involvement in Vietnam, for example, began as early as 1950, with the first U.S. troops deployments to Vietnam in 1965 and lasting until 1973. Obviously, this war had lasting effects on Vietnamese civilians and Vietnamese and U.S. veterans alike. It is also important to the collective memory of America. Reducing an emotionally devastating and historic event in which more than 1

million people died to a video game, thereby limiting thoughts on the war to strategic thinking and cold calculation, minimizes the importance of the war and the experiences of those who lived it. Yes, cold calculations and strategic thinking were necessary for those fighting in the war. But now, since we are on the periphery and look at past wars in retrospect, it is important to evaluate our actions rather than glorify military thinking for young children. There are certain war-related issues that I feel video games encourage overlooking.

In games released from 1992 to 2011, World War II games make up about 62 percent of real-war games, while games about the Vietnam War come in second at 16 percent. For those who have actually served on the battlefield, however, war is no game.

In an article on a popular gaming website, Marine Lance Corporal Anthony Andrada comments on the factors of war that video games tend to leave out, such as the feeling of real fatigue, real danger and real equipment. While Andrada reports having enjoyed playing some militaristic games, he said, “I do think that these games do have a way of making people enlist. The games do glorify us, and players want to be a part of the real thing.” Glorifying the difficult job of soldiers makes light of the real difficulties they face during and after war. Historically based video games especially encourage players to forget about war-specific trauma. In addition to the trauma that soldiers face, video games about real wars oversimplify history, often leaving out tragedies and war atrocities involving civilians. War, then, may be seen as an everyday novelty rather than for what it really is — an institution that affects and often severely damages those involved.

I’m not suggesting that people who play video games take them literally. I know that most video game enthusiasts can draw a line between fiction and reality. This, however, is precisely the problem with real-war video games; by taking out the element of fantasy created by generic warfare or generic videogame violence, real-war games blur this line. In “Call of Duty: World at War,” the game even begins with a series of facts and statistics and sometimes integrates these with archival footage. Debra Ramsay calls war “the hero” of “Call of Duty.” While she argues that “‘Call of Duty’ counters the archaic notion that the actions of the individual matter on the industrial battlefield and instead emphasizes how the destructive impartiality of mechanized warfare renders obsolete the skill and prowess of the lone soldier,” it seems as if the focus on violence serves to glorify, rather than caution against, war. Perhaps “Call of Duty” and similar games are merely that — just games. But if we play video games to relive grim parts of history, we may fail to understand or think critically about historical events that shape the way we think about enlisting, U.S. military actions and warfare today as well as how we think about those who fight, suffer and die in war.

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

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STAFF COLUMNIST SARAH PEREZ ‘17

STAFF COLUMNIST DOROTHY QU ‘19

Lemonade? I’ll Have Water

Pretension and Power

Beyoncé’s latest album is not a work of art but a reason for concern.

I’d like to preface this column by sayacclaim from women. Many took to ing that it will likely be among the most social media, claiming that “Lemonade” unpopular I’ll write. But, with 16S drawleft them feeling empowered and even ing to a close and the start of senior fall liberated. Mothers gushed over what a just around the corner, I’m definitely not remarkable role model “the Queen” had getting any younger — so here it goes. become for their daughters, her songs I don’t want to rehash the circus that making them more confident individuhas become the 2016 presidential race, als who were more comfortable in their or nitpick the pros and cons of the new own skin. Even President Barack Obama housing communities. Instead, I just want weighed in a few years ago, asserting that to talk about one thing: “Lemonade” the singer “could not be a better role (2016). Given everything that is going model for his girls.” It is no secret that on in the world right now, discussing the singer has become a feminist icon — Beyoncé’s latest album may seem slightly but on what basis? myopic. That being said, it is important It is incomprehensible to me how lyrto take a moment to reflect on what ics laced with vulgarity and all manner of has been hailed as perhaps the greatest innuendo could be mistaken for female musical composition to ever grace human empowerment. The fact that we have ears. exalted “Lemonade” as a work of art On April 23, the star released her rivaling Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel is sixth studio record. Accompanied by an deeply concerning. Evidently, something hour-long film aired on HBO, “Lemis off. Beyoncé, like every other musician onade” was Beyoncé’s second “visual today, wants to sell albums. Private galas album.” The most ardent members of with POTUS and weekend escapades the “BeyHive” were treated to 10 original in Havana surely aren’t going to pay for songs featuring acclaimed guest vocalists, themselves. “Lemonade” is the culminaamong them James Blake, Kendrick Lation of a troubling trend in the music mar, The Weeknd and industry, the peddling of Jack White. shock value in the place “‘Lemonade’ is the To put it simply, of musical composition.

Beyoncé “broke the inculmination of a Its success points to a ternet” with the release broader cultural desentroubling trend in of her album. Around sitization, an inability the music industry, to distinguish between the world, fans took to social media in praise of the enlightened and the peddling of its poetic lyrics. Several the crude. There is no shock value in the print and online publidenying that Beyoncé is cations acknowledged exceptionally talented, place of musical the momentousness of but her most recent composition.” the occasion for the album just doesn’t do music world. The New her justice. “Lemonade” Yorker waxed lyrical, isn’t a testament to her declaring the work a profoundly moving talent, but her ability to spew f-bombs “revelation of spirit.” The Daily Beast and other profanity. While I understand did not fall far behind, anointing the that well-behaved women seldom make album a “breathtaking” musical masterhistory, it’s time for a reality check: What piece that “calls us to introspection, to does it mean that we, as women, feel speculation, and, most fiercely, to action.” “empowered” by such baseness?

Indeed, both the average listener and the This past weekend, we celebrated esteemed critic have described “LemMother’s Day. Flowers were sent, cards onade” in glowing terms. “Beautiful,” were mailed and phone calls were made “stunning,” “powerful” and “epic” only to women who have had a defining begin to scratch the surface of praise for impact on our lives. My mother is among the album. Clearly, Queen Bey struck a the strongest people I know. If I’m only chord with her audience. one-tenth of the mom that she has been And that is perfectly fine. After all, to my sisters and I, I’ll be happy. She’s everyone is entitled to their opinion. That made immense sacrifices for us, and being said, there is an important distincI’m not sure I’ll ever be able to thank tion to be made. While I understand the her enough. I have a feeling that I am overwhelmingly positive response to the not alone in this sentiment. Mothers album, I cannot begin to grasp why anyacross the United States, not to mention one would call it “empowering.” Perhaps around the world, strive to provide for I’m too tone-deaf to fully appreciate their families, even if it means putting the awe-inspiring musical genius that is themselves second. So, if we’re looking “Lemonade.” Maybe Queen Bey is just for sources of female empowerment, why over my head. But just for the record, not go with what’s most accessible? There I awkwardly danced around to “Single is absolutely no need to spend $17.99 Ladies” (2008) at middle school dance on an album that, quite frankly, is little parties just as much as the next person. more than lewd lyricism disguised as art.

Ever since the album dropped a few Instead, just pick up the phone and call weeks ago, it has received widespread home.

Intellectualism is important but so is unity.

I just subscribed to the online version of the New York Times. Since then, I have found that the time I spend reading has increased significantly. Interestingly enough, so have the instances of browsing the internet at 4 a.m.

At that ungodly hour I mostly read articles written by libertarians or conservatives. This, as well as reading angry people’s comments, are my guilty pleasures — pleasures, because I do genuinely enjoy reading opposing viewpoints, but guilty, because I know that some crudely crafted articles I end up reading merely make me feel frustrated, with no gain in knowledge or understanding whatsoever. The bottom line is that I try to stay as unbiased as possible by reading liberal and conservative works.

Although I remain loyal to The New York Times, I do branch out; I recently indulged in a New York Magazine article shared by a professor. After reading it, I automatically looked to see how the public reacted to the article — and I was not disappointed. One responder who caught my eye had commented with proud derision that no Southerner would read the piece because of the pretension dripping from the very first sentence: “As this dystopian election campaign has unfolded, my mind keeps being tugged by a passage in Plato’s Republic.” I had to scroll back and reread these first sentences a few times. Merriam-Webster defines pretentious as “having or showing the unpleasant quality of people who want to be regarded as more impressive, successful or important than they really are.” Pretentious? I genuinely did not think that statement was. Wordy? Yes, but what scholarly work is not? In fact, I had been thinking about Plato since I read the title “Democracies end when they are too democratic.”

I stopped scrolling. Was I pretentious?

When I read Plato’s Republic, I bought into it. Specifically, I bought into Plato’s judgment that philosopher kings have the natural right to rule, because they are the wisest and can see the so-called “true Forms.” In other words, they have the know-how to put everyone in the role in society that best fits their abilities. However, when I read Plato’s work hierarchy of governments, sweat beaded at my neck when I saw that democracy placed second to last, right above tyranny. Did agreeing with Plato to some extent mean that I hated democracy?

No, I came to realize, it did not. But it did make me feel skeptical — and, yes, pretentious.

But I’ll have to come back to this thought later.

Two years ago, the Pew Research Center found that Republicans and Democrats were “more divided along ideological lines than at any point in the previous two decades.” But this divide “is not confined to partisanship. There are also growing ideological divisions along educational and generational lines.” This year, the data they found confirmed this trend: the gaps continue to widen.

The left should not rejoice at this fact. It’s not comforting. Another Pew study from 2014 shows that, although millennials have become the most educated generation in America, with about a third of us having earned or are on the path toward earning a bachelor’s degree or higher, the income gap between those with a college education and those without has been

widening. The result is that the majority of Americans, who have lower levels of education, are left in the dark.

As the political scientists and author Charles Murray puts it, a gap is forming. Although I disagree with many of Murray’s sentiments, I do acknowledge that he has a point with this statement. And, right now, schools like Dartmouth represent that educated elite. He states in his Feb. 12 article for the Wall Street Journal, “The new upper class consists of the people who shape the country’s economy, politics and culture. The new lower class consists of people who have dropped out of some of the most basic institutions of American civic culture, especially work and marriage.”

This brings me back to the topic I put on pause earlier: although we have higher levels of education, does this mean that we have the right to rule? One argument is that no one has that right — rather, as supported by a 2014 study at Princeton University, we live in an oligarchy. However, Donald Trump’s — and Bernie Sanders’, to a slightly smaller extent — success shows that power in number and volume may actually undermine this argument, much to the surprise and panic of those with established power. My personal grievances towards Trump aside, not even his most loyal supporter can find evidence to support the many factual errors that Trump has spewed over the year, as shown in an episode of “Late Night Tonight,” which has reached 25 million views since its release on YouTube on Feb. 28.

Fact-checking sites such as Politifact show his perpetual lying, determining that 76 percent of what Trumps says is false — yet he has managed to become a major party’s nominee for president. Clearly, if left to the masses, the masses may choose to elect someone with no concrete platform or grasp on politics. Are we the future’s example of a failed democracy due to this ideological schism?

Unfortunately, I’m just a college freshman.

I have no answers to this widening gap. But I do know two things. Firstly, many of us live in a “bubble” but don’t realize it. A large chunk of us Dartmouth students are on financial aid and are strikingly aware of how different life at Dartmouth is from life at home. But the majority of us have lived fairly comfortable lives and haven’t experienced how the “average” American lives, and we must recognize that. If we remain unaware of the growing educational and social divide, we will end up alienating a large population of Americans, namely the white working class. Realizing this is important, because the more “pretentious” we seem, the less they will want to compromise. Science, philosophy, ethics and anything else scholarly are useless if discussions remain impossible.

Secondly, education — and, by extension, the pretension that often comes with it — is important. There need to be people talking about climate change, about social progress, about government and so on. Working hard and having your ideologies refined and improved by higher education is not a negative thing: we’re coming closer to a more scientifically and socially advanced and accepting civilization. But we can’t leave a large part of America behind.

PAGE 8

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016

Studio art majors reveal eye-catching works in culminating show Darby Raymond-Overstreet ’16, who received one of the top awards The Dartmouth Staff along with Benjamin Albrecht ’16, Crowds filled the Jaffe-Friede discussed the expression of her heritage and Strauss Galleries in the Hopkins throughout her work.

Center, fueled by snacks, fine wine One of her pieces combines digital and punch on Tuesday as 12 senior mediums along with traditional elestudio art majors experienced their ments of tapestry such as symmetry first taste of life as working artists at and bold contrasting colors. Another the opening reception for their senior unnamed piece in the exhibition are majors exhibition. two portraits — one of a man, one of With their sculptures dangling from a woman — with geometric patterns ceilings and their paintings adorning and neutral colors overlaid on their the walls, the artists conversed with skin. fellow students, faculty and members Raymond-Overstreet said her work of the Class of 1960, who purchased is in homage to weavers that were alive some of the students’ artwork to be during the early 1890s through midinstalled in the residential buildings 1900s. at Dartmouth as part of a 25-year “It honors their skills and their program with the Office of Residential contribution to contemporary Navajo Life. identity today,” Raymond-Overstreet Studio art department chair Soo said.

Sunny Park and senior assistant dean After the opening remarks, the event of residential life Mike Wooten opened transitioned into an open viewing and Tuesday’s event with short remarks an informal discussion with the artists. about the students and their pieces.

Many pieces in the exhibition touch Class of 1960 representative Dennis upon humanity and identity. Created Goldman ’60 followed with a presen- using ink on paper and polyester, tation of awards for art that would Jenny Seong ’16’s “Stay” is a print of be purchased for the Residence Hall a faceless human silhouette formed by Art Project, which began in 1961 as hundreds of smaller human figures in an initiative to decorate the College’s various poses superimposed over the dorms with student artwork. silhouette’s shadow.

Goldman said his class really appreJinny Seo ’16’s oil on canvas paintciates and advocates for the program. ing “Between the Folds” is an intimate Because it supports studio art majors portrait of a woman, who despite havand the department, he hopes the ing a relaxed expression on her face, is class of 2010, which graduated 50 surrounded by a dark background. years after his class, will fully take over Albrecht’s sculpture “Frustration this tradition afwith Physicalter deciding to “When you start to think ity” is a larger co-sponsor the than life human program with about the viewers and head molded the ’60s in 2011. what you created having in a similar exA n g e l i c a a power to communicate pression to the Carrillo Leal with people other than subject of Ed’16 received Munch’s yourself, that’s when you vard the Class of “The Scream” 1960 Office can start calling the work (1910). of Residential an art piece.”

Lynn Life Purchase Jones ’15 creAward for her ated a photopiece, which -SOO SUNNY PARK, STUDIO graphic series features three ART DEPARTMENT CHAIR titled, “Expresdepictions of sion Is Itself the female face Transfor main different tion,” which is poses using via collection of brant paint and intricate papercutting four black-and-white photos of a naked techniques. woman holding art supplies, wrapped Emily Harwell ’16 also received in thick chain or covered in dark tulle. the award for her collages “Untitled” A quote regarding art as therapy by and “Study of Money.” To make both Stephen K. Levine, author of “Founpieces, Harwell cut real money and dations of Expressive Arts Therapy: prints of bills into geometric shapes Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives” and mounted them onto a piece of (1998) is printed above the photos. copper leaf.

When placing Jones’ series in the

By NALINI RAMANATHAN

SEAMORE ZHU/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Many students and faculty members attended the opening reception of the studio art department’s senior majors exhibition.

gallery, director of exhibitions Gerald Auten, who curated the exhibit, decided to put it in a corner to give the piece the appearance of an open book.

Some pieces depict human interactions with nature. Corinne Hardy’s ’16 oil painting “Hiding Places” resembles a forest landscape with hidden caves that may not be visible at any initial glance.

Ham Sonnenfeld ’16’s “Wax Cut Studies 1-8” is a multimedia piece with eight cross-sections of various wood types covered in a layer of wax that hardened into unique patterns and textures.

Dalia McGill ’16’s prints play with an abstract interpretation of the world.

Designed using monotype and pens, “Sunset on a Nudist beach” and “The Grand Canyon” are vivid pieces that invite the viewer to consider an alternate look at nature and art.

Jennifer Ontiveros ’15’s sculptures “Inevitable Eviction” and “Existence” are similar to McGill’s in their abstract element. Both pieces, which are formed out of wire covered in colored plastic wrap, currently hang from the ceiling in Jaffe-Friede Gallery. Ontiveros’ use of positive and negative space in the organic forms contributes to the shadows that are cast on the gallery’s floor due to the placement of the overhead lighting.

The seniors created most of their pieces in the studio art department’s senior seminar, a two-term culminating experience required for all majors.

Before taking the seminar, studio art professor Enrico Riley said the seniors are rather separated by their areas of concentration, including drawing, sculpture or printmaking.

However, in this seminar all of the majors were divided up into two sections, irrespective of their concentration, allowing each student to get different perspectives from their peers’ backgrounds, Riley said.

Park noted that the department’s interns, who were selected from the past year’s graduating seniors, provided valuable input as both peers and advanced artists.

Throughout these seminars, students work on sets of pieces that typically focus on a cohesive theme.

Some studio art majors are also part of the department’s honors program, for which they create a separate body of work. Some of these pieces are featured in the exhibit as well.

Studio art professor Colleen Randall said that studio art majors choose pieces created through these programs that they would like to have in the senior major exhibition. Then, a group of tenured studio art professors and senior seminar professors act as a jury, choosing the strongest work from each student. Randall said that the professors aim to represent each student equally, looking at the size of the pieces as well as the quantity of the work produced.

Auten said every year the body of work the students produce is very different. This year, for example, included

a large quantity of paintings, some of which were large and bright female portraits by Pauline Lewis ’16.

However, he said there was a nice balance between pieces that were meant to be on the walls and those which could be displayed in the gallery’s central space. The main focus, he said, is ensuring the works do not detract from one another.

“For instance, if you hung three large paintings next to each other by different artists and then a series of seven photographs by different artists, they wouldn’t each have their own kind of identity,” he said.

Park said this exhibition and the senior seminar leading up to it is when the students truly become artists.

“When you start to think about the viewers and what you created having a power to communicate with people other than yourself, that’s when you can start calling the work an art piece,” Park said.

Many Dartmouth students visited the exhibition, spurred by interest in the artists’ talents as well as a desire to support their friends and peers.

Alexandra di Suvero ’16 said she enjoyed the opening reception and seeing the art her classmates created.

“I was impressed by the artistry,” di Suvero said. “I didn’t know that half of these people were studio art majors, or that they were so good.”

The exhibition will run until June 19 in the Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries and the Nearburg Arts Forum in the Black Family Visual Arts Center.