VOL. CLXXIII NO.81
RAIN HIGH 72 LOW 48
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
Town passes three zoning ordinances
Students and professors respond to GRID panel
The Dartmouth Staff
The Dartmouth Staff
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HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Hanover residents voted on Tuesday to pass several zoning ordinance amendments that will directly affect construction plans on the west end of campus. These changes were a culmination of a three-year effort by the planning board to sort out and remove all inconsistencies in the current ordinances. Hanover Planning Board chair Judith Esmay identified three of 13 amendments relevant to the College’s plans for new construction that were proposed by the College. The first proposed amendment would increase building heights from 35 feet to 60 feet along the West Wheelock corridor, since 60 feet is the allowance for all other structures in the institutional zone. This amendment also included the provision of a 20-foot rear setback and 10-foot side setback from the GR-2 properties abutting the “I” district in this region of campus. This amendment affected the new building addition to the Thayer School of Engineering, which is still in the planning stage and has not yet received approval for construction. The new structure would be built in the Cummings Parking Lot adjacent to the current Thayer building and close to West Wheelock
street. The planned building’s location and height violated the existing law and resulted in the amendment proposal. According to the official town ballot, 601 people voted in favor of the amendment and 272 against it. Computer science professor Hany Farid, whose department will be housed in the new building, said compromises like these between the College and Town of Hanover are fairly common. Nonetheless, Farid said he was relieved after the amendments passed. If this request had been voted down, he said, it would cause problems for the computer science department and the College at large. Farid noted that the computer science department will share the building with Thayer when it opens in 2020, which will allow these two similar areas of expertise to be in closer contact. The new structure will also provide students with more wide open spaces to do their computer science assignments, Farid said. Another amendment directly impacting the College’s expansion plans included improvements to storm water SEE ZONING PAGE 2
By ZACHARY BENJAMIN
Jasbir Puar’s April 30 presentation at a panel sponsored by the Gender Research Institute at Dartmouth remains controversial, both for its content and for attempts to record it. Puar, a professor of women and gender studies at Rutgers University who in the past has been accused of anti-Semitism for her writings and remarks about Israel, was invited to speak at the panel, entitled “Archipelagic Entanglements.” The panel was part of a larger seminar series organized by English professor Aimee Bahng and postdoctoral fellow Max Hantel entitled “Gender Matters: Feminist Ecologies and Materialisms.” Puar was one of six speakers in attendance at the event. Puar’s talk, entitled “Inhumanist Biopolitics: How Palestine Matters,” was divided into three parts. She began with an overview describing the intentions of the project: to frame discussions about Israel and Palestine by combining various areas of study, including object-oriented
ontology, posthumanist theories, postcolonial theories, theories of settler colonialism and disability studies. Puar then described two examples that she said demonstrate “the mired forms of occupation today.” The first was a gated community built in the city of Rawabi by a Palestinian millionaire, the first of its kind in Palestine, she said. She claimed that despite its many luxuries, the community is devoid of water, and that construction was entirely dependent on receiving permission from Israel, which controls the territory. She also discussed controversies between solidarity activists, whom she described as critical of the project for its complicity with the Israeli government’s occupation of the West Bank, and the property developer, whom she said characterized the project as a counter-settlement strategy. Puar also discussed what she described as Israeli control over Palestinian telecommunications networks. She discussed forms of “digital fragmentation” that separate geographical
areas of Palestine from one another, making it difficult for them to communicate. Puar also criticized the presence of checkpoints in the West Bank and the rise of technologies meant to relieve the boredom of waiting to pass through, saying that they implicitly support and profit from the occupation. More generally, Puar was critical of what she saw as dehumanizing attitudes that emphasize the use of technology at the expense of human life. “Algorithmic computations are rationalized in the service of a liberal yet brutal humanism and humanitarianism, whether through the calculation of deaths of Hamas, where 28 deaths are humanitarian killing and the 29th death is collateral damage, or the perfection of drone technology as a sublimated rationale for killing of Gazan civilians,” she said. The second part of Puar’s lecture was largely a summary of a previously published paper, entitled “The Right to Maim: Disablement and Inhumanist Biopolitics in Palestine.” SEE PUAR PAGE 3
College releases survey results and diversity report
By SONIA QIN
The Dartmouth Staff
Approximately 21 percent of Dartmouth’s community members have personally experienced exclusionary, offensive or hostile conduct in the past, according to results released last week from the fall campus climate study. A total of 781 undergraduate
students, 336 graduate students, 25 post-doctorate or research assistants, 368 faculty and 1,243 staff members participated in the survey. Based on the results, gender non-conforming survey respondents experience more hostile conduct compared to women and men, while participants of color and multiracial participants experience more
hostile conduct than their white counterparts. Respondents of color also indicated that they believed the hostile conduct was based on their ethnicity. The study, conducted last October, is the College’s firstever extensive community study examining campus climate. A working group of faculty, staff and students organized the study and contracted Rankin and
Associates, a consulting firm, to help analyze collected data. The study was initially announced as a part of College President Phil Hanlon’s “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy initiative. In the winter, the College formed three working groups to pursue conversations on diversity and inclusion with input from students, faculty and staff. Dean of the College Rebecca Bi-
ron and vice provost for student affairs Inge-Lise Ameer chaired the student working group; vice provost for academic initiatives Denise Anthony chaired the faculty working group. Ahmed Mohammed, director of talent acquisition in human resources chaired the staff working group. Recommendations from SEE DIVERSITY PAGE 2
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
Town halls to discuss survey results Thayer construction awaiting approval FROM DIVERSITY PAGE 1
these working groups were released to the College community last week in an email, as well as on the College’s diversity webpage. The student working group’s proposals focused on themes of accountability, transparency and communication, and included several initiatives designed to increase diversity and inclusion at the College. The group proposed that the College president and provost produce an annual College diversity and inclusion report. Moreover, it recommended a public assignment of each current or new diversity initiative to a particular College community member, who will be held accountable for its execution. Other proposals included hosting termly town halls and housing community meetings focused on diversity and inclusion, the addition of a diversity course requirement for all undergraduates and introducing incentives for faculty to undergo diversity training. Meanwhile, the faculty working group focused its suggestions on areas of institutional infrastructure, pipeline and recruitment, professional development, retention and inclusive community and research. Some of the proposals included assigning an academic dean in each school to support diversity and inclusion actions, incorporating diversity-related activities into annual faculty evaluation, increasing the Faculty Diversity Recruitment Fund and investing in formal mentoring programs for every department. The staff working group addressed issues in institutional culture, current staff support, recruitment and retention and measurements. Recommendations include the introduction of cultural sensitivity training, increased support and funding for Employee Resource Networks and instituting exit and “stay” interviews to analyze why staff are leaving or staying at the College. Evelynn Ellis, vice president for institutional diversity and equity, said that the purpose of hiring outside experts to help with data analysis was to make the results more credible and objective to the community. Nineteen focus groups were formed in the spring of 2015 to identify themes relevant to the Dartmouth community. The study’s survey questions were formulated based on these themes. Ellis said the study is important because it the data is not anecdotal. She added that the results give the
administration authority to support the energy, human resources and financial resources put into diversity initiatives. Justin Maffett ’16, a member of the student diversity working group, principally devoted his efforts to a section about communication between students and administration. Biron and Ameer revised individual pieces from subgroups of the student group, each focused on specific topics, editing individual contributions to varying degrees. Given the results of the community study and the recommendations by the working groups, an executive committee composed of executive vice president Rick Mills, Hanlon, Provost Carolyn Dever and Ellis will publish a plan for implementing measures to address the issues brought up by the study and groups. Ellis said that the committee set itself an end-of-May deadline, in order to have the plan ready for public viewing before finals period begins. This month, the College will host a series of community forums. The first of these forums, co-hosted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People campus chapter, was held on Monday evening and attended by 32 members of the College community. Anthony, Ameer, Mills and director of the Office of Pluralism and Leadership Reese Kelly served as panelists. While the study results at the College are consistent with those of other universities in terms of discomfort levels on campus, Anthony said that “finding we are consistent with other institutions should not be satisfying to us.” When one attendee asked about how the administration plans on retaining female faculty of color, Anthony responded that the tenure process operates independently of the working groups. In response to why there were no community survey questions on how students feel about faculty diversity and retention, Mills said the administration already recognizes these topics as a problem, and that they do not need to know the specifics. “You don’t need to know the temperature of the fire to deal with the fire,” he said. At a town hall on Wednesday attended by over 250 where administrators again fielded questions related to the community study, Anthony discussed more specific findings, including many of the statistics. Maffett said that the open community forums mark the start of a review process, during which all the results and
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com. In the May 11 article, “Studio art majors reveal eye-catching works in culminating show,” Veri di Suvero ‘16 was incorrectly referred to as Alexandra and incorrect pronouns were used. The article has been corrected to reflect these changes.
findings are available for public scrutiny. “All eyes are on the executive committee and everyone expects them to come back with an action plan,” he said. “We hope they take seriously our recommendations and work to enact them.” Ellis said there will be some shortterm measures that can be implemented almost immediately, while mid-term measures will require the administration to utilize existing resources and subsequently update the community. Long-term measures include changing the curriculum, a vote on which occurred on Monday, Ellis said. “Even though that’s a long term measure, the first action already occurred,” she said. “Long term, you can never stop.” Maffett said that some of the challenges for the executive committee’s implementation will be getting some of the changes past the faculty and the faculty committees. “The dean of the faculty was not involved at any point during this process, which I thought was surprising, since [many of the recommendations] will require a lot of participation from faculty,” Maffett said, adding that while this should not be a barrier, it is still a process through which many recommendations will have to go. SEE DIVERSITY PAGE 3
FROM ZONING PAGE 1
erosion management and landscaping in a burial site, such as the Dartmouth College Cemetery. It also accounts for the proximity within which a building can be located near a burial site. Six-hundred and thirty-six people voted in favor of the this change, while 217 were against it. The third relevant amendment included expanding the range of structures that fall in the outdoor recreation category, Esmay said. These structures include a Nordic skiing facility at Oak Hill that meets NCAA requirements, additional restrooms, snow-making facilities, warming huts and cross country ski courses. Seven-hundred and sixty-six people voted in favor of this change, while only 102 voted against it. All three amendments requested by the College were approved by the town planning board at their meeting on March 1 before the public vote. Residents cast their ballots in favor of or against these changes at Hanover High School between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on May
10. Esmay said these ordinances were originally developed for the College in the 1960s and have been changed approximately 200 times since their creation. Expansion plans include the creation of a parking facility located below the new Thayer building, increased outdoor spaces to open the land to the Connecticut River and heightened safety improvements along the west end’s main streets. A proposed pedestrian and bicycle bridge built over the cemetery is currently pending review by the town, with the goal of increasing cyclist, pedestrian and vehicular safety on campus. Vice president of campus services Lisa Hogarty said she was pleased by the collaboration between the town and the College regarding the process of changing the zoning rules. “It was a terrifically democratic process, with great community engagement,” Hogarty said. “The vote is a testament to how well the community and Dartmouth engage together, and the town passed it resoundingly.”
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
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Working groups present suggestions Puar’s lecture addresses Israel, eco-criticism FROM DIVERSITY PAGE 2
The three working groups studied the College’s past and existing initiatives to promote diversity and inclusivity and merged their findings with other original ideas. He added that from reading reports dating back to as far as 1965, the group
noticed that many past ideas have been half-implemented already. While the report by the student working group “is definitely a nod to what has already been said, there are still some original ideas,” Maffett said. He said that it is necessary for the administration to have an aggressive response to the needs of students, fac-
ulty and staff in terms of diversity and inclusion, adding that anything less than that will create a strong reaction from community members “who sincerely believe that real change is necessary right now.” Ellis said that to increase transparency and accountability, the executive committee will probably create a website with a checklist of goals. Ellis said that the creation of an online dashboard can also help administrators address other communication issues, such as why there are community members who often do not know about programs at the College that help with diversity and inclusion. There needs to be an update at least once a year on how implementation of the recommendations are going, she said, adding that community forums should also be continued and hosted periodically. “Sometimes people are angry because they haven’t had the opportunity to voice their concerns,” Ellis said. “They don’t want to just write in, they want a human they can look at and talk to.” The next community forum will be held on May 17 at 6 p.m. in Rockefeller 002, co-hosted by Senior Society. Two more will be held on May 24 in Collis Common Ground, one at 8 a.m. and another at 1 p.m.
FROM PUAR PAGE 1
She asserted that Israel has claimed an implicit “right to maim” Palestinian citizens as part of the occupation of Palestinian territories. Puar said that Israel has used tactics such as illegally using flechettes and dumdum bullets that splinter in bones, bombing hospitals and a disability center, destroying schools and mosques, destroying an electric power plant and targeting youths, all of which she described as inflicting some form of debilitation. She also said that medical personnel in Gaza and the West Bank have seen shifts away from using tear gas and rubber bullets and a shift towards shooting at knees, femurs or vital organs as a form of crowd control. She also claimed that Israel has sought to attack Palestine’s infrastructure as a means of controlling the population. All together, these sorts of policies manifest what she called “the right to maim,” adapted from Michel Foucault’s “right to kill.” Puar was also critical of how concepts like collateral damage and shooting without fatal intent have been framed. The concept of
collateral damage “disarticulates the effects of warfare from the perpetration of violence,” she said. Shooting to cripple, meanwhile, is framed as “preservation of life,” she said, while it should more properly be framed as “will not let die.” “What I am explicitly arguing is that from the discoursive and empirical evidence offered by Palestinians, this foundational biopolitical frame is a liberal fantasy that produces ‘let live’ as an alibi for colonial rule and thus indeed facilitates the covert destruction of ‘will not let die,’” she said. Puar closed her talk by mentioning fieldwork she completed in January in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. She analyzed disability studies in this context, arguing that the Israeli occupation and alleged “right to maim” tactics have rendered the entire Palestinian population debilitated to some degree. The main focus of disability rights groups in Palestine is antioccupation activism, she claimed. The two are intrinsically tied, she said, and disability cannot be “reSEE PUAR PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
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FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
STAFF COLUMNIST DAN FISHBEIN ’19
VERBUM ULTIMUM THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD
Be Orange in a Sea of Grey
#Fight4facultyofcolor
Symbolic movements can lead to dramatic changes.
I am not a huge fan of the color orange. As someone who prefers my clothes to fit in rather than stand out, orange screams much too loudly for my everyday style. Heather grey, sure; check my top drawer and you’ll find plenty of that. Popsicle orange? No thanks. You’ll find just one flashy item, a t-shirt given to me as a member of Divest Dartmouth. I put on my orange shirt a few Saturdays ago, before heading over to Gold Coast lawn to participate in the Big Green Rally, supposedly the largest climate change rally in New Hampshire history. I definitely would not have worn that color on my own accord, but I felt the need to show my solidarity and support for an organization that sees climate change as the crisis that it is. On my walk over to the rally, I passed a group of my friends, members of one of the few campus organizations which had not co-sponsored the Divest rally. They immediately knew where I was headed because of my shirt. Despite not saying anything I felt that my involvement in Divest Dartmouth had raised questions for them. “What can a bunch of students accomplish by yelling about the atmosphere and running around with cardboard signs? Why would gargantuan fossil fuel companies care about losing a small, insignificant investment from one college?” Such criticisms are valid. As a single institution with a very small percentage of its endowment invested into only a handful fossil fuel companies, Dartmouth could not change the fossil fuel industry. A Dartmouth divestment, for all intents and purposes, would only serve as a symbolic gesture against climate change. But the symbolism of divestment should not be downplayed. Like the bright orange t-shirts and the passionate speeches against climate change delivered on College President Phil Hanlon’s doorstep during the rally, divestment is intended to stand out, to make a statement. If American colleges and universities reside in a world of heather grey, divestment would paint Dartmouth orange. In its mission statement, Dartmouth claims to foster “responsible leadership” in its students.
Now, Divest wants Dartmouth to take its own advice, and be that responsible leader. Divestment from fossil fuel companies would provide a way to do this, and deliver a message that we must act now before our planet goes beyond repair. Similar messages have driven successful divestment movements from both apartheid South Africa and tobacco companies. Although they started out as symbolic in nature, these historic divestment campaigns encouraged largescale institutions to divest on moral grounds, which in turn influenced individual consumers to do the same. Apartheid South Africa crumbled. Cigarette smoking in the United States has declined. But we live in a day and age when Hillary Clinton, our presumptive liberal option for president, has accepted over $6.9 million in campaign donations from fossil fuel companies. Divestment seeks to portray fossil fuel companies in the same negative light as tobacco companies, and change their revenues from acceptable donations to dirty money. The College taking its money out of fossil fuel companies is a necessary first step to an environmentally sustainable future. Although Dartmouth divesting would not directly change the fossil fuel market, it would send individual consumers a message they need to hear: that fossil fuel companies are dirty and destroy the planet we all cherish. A study by the Financial Times found that “ethical consumerism” or the moral consequences of one’s purchases motivates consumers now more than ever. These consumers could pressure their politicians to reject donations from fossil fuel companies, enabling those in our government to take steps to regulate a dangerous industry. Again, Divest Dartmouth’s Big Green Rally is symbolic, and not immediately consequential. The hope is that Dartmouth would be that orange, and stand out as the first Ivy League school to divest. By doing so, we would pave the way in ensuring a sustainable future and showcase the responsible leadership that the College claims to promote among students.
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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.
Tenure decisions need to value teaching more.
If you’ve been on Facebook over the past few days, you’ve probably seen the hashtag #fight4facultyofcolor. Started in part as a response to the College’s decision to deny English professor Aimee Bahng tenure, the hashtag encapsulates a conversation that is taking place at both the College and the national level. Various higher education institutions, including Harvard University and Yale University, have seen discussions about minority faculty attraction and retention. Although criteria to decide faculty tenure are available online, the decision process itself is fairly opaque. It seems to weigh the academic research produced by an associate professor more than their ability to nurture and educate students. There is an argument to be made for the importance of research in establishing a nationally- or internationally-renowned staff. Faculty visibility — attained by publishing in well-respected journals, giving speeches at wellattended conferences and actions in that vein — does improve the reputation and brand of a college. But at Dartmouth, an institution that routinely touts the quality of its undergraduate teaching, denying tenure to a professor who is widely recognized among the student body for her quality of teaching is disingenuous at best and calculated, cold and foolish at worst. According to the College’s Handbook, a professor seeking tenure must submit a “list of eight to 10 individuals qualified to review the candidate’s scholarly work.” While peer evaluations are valuable, these tenured professors from other institutions should not be so influential on the decision process. This is especially unfair to minority professors who are being judged predominantly by white, male peers. Why should a tenured English professor from across the country have a say in a Dartmouth professor’s future? Why should he have a say in Dartmouth students’ education? Although student recommendations are considered during the decision process, the College and its many governing bodies — the Committee Advisory to the President, the Board of Trustees and the Tenure Committee — have no structural obligation to consider students’ opinions strongly. In recent years, the College has paid a lot of lip service to increasing diversity among both the student body and faculty. While student body diversity has increased, especially with the Class of 2020, 85 percent of tenured faculty is white according to the 2016 Dartmouth Factbook. Part of the College’s public plan to improve faculty
diversity is a $22.5 million project to support recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority faculty. With this level of financial dedication, it seems utterly inane that the College can’t be bothered to examine its own tenure process and make an effort to keep minority faculty — especially minority faculty who have supported and nurtured students — around. In this obscure process, we cannot discern the role that the opinions of students and fellow professors play in deciding whether a professor gets tenure. For faculty of color, this is even more problematic since they spend far more time with the consuming work of advising and mentoring students. When talented, beloved minority professors are given the short end of the stick, the College signals to prospective minority professors that Dartmouth, despite its pledges and financial promises, does not embrace faculty of color. Instead, the College continues to use a secretive, political process to decide tenure that seems to underrepresent students’ voices. To be clear, we are not suggesting that reviews of professors be made public. This would put both the institution and the professors up for tenure in potentially damaging situations. Rather, the assessment of a professor’s teaching contributions relative to their research impact should be made clearer. Moreover, the weight needs to shift to account for the value a professor brings to students more than his or her potential to boost us in the rankings. Both are important, but the first should take precedent. In the College Handbook, the guidelines for tenure state that “It is difficult to define outstanding teaching in specific terms.” The guidelines go on to say that current and former students as well as colleagues’ opinions weigh into the tenure decision. However, consideration “is given primarily to classroom instruction.” Meanwhile, the development of courses and programs, student mentorship, and outside work is “fully recognized” but given secondary consideration. With an increasingly diverse student body, an overwhelming monochromatic faculty — and the least diverse faculty in the Ivy League — sets up more and more students for an unnecessarily difficult time at the College. All students, including students of color, deserve support and role models. We believe that as students, and as a College, we must fight for faculty of color. The publisher, editor-in-chief and production executive editor wrote this article. The editorial board consists of the editor-in-chief, the publisher, both executive editors and an opinion editor.
Letter from the Editors: Last Friday, The Dartmouth prematurely published an account of a Gender Research Institute at Dartmouth lecture entitled “Archipelagic Entanglements,” where six panelists spoke about feminist ecology — one of whom was Rutgers University professor Jasbir Puar. The article also reported on an alleged incident in which Matthew Goldstein ’18 accused GRID director Annabel Martín of threatening him with force after he attempted to record the lecture. We apologize to our readers for the shortcomings of the first article and any misinformation that resulted. Today we are publishing a more comprehensive account of the lecture based on the audio recording that was made available to us late Monday afternoon. We hope that this will clarify the contents of the lecture and any relevant events. Annie Ma, News Executive Editor Sara McGahan, Managing Editor
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Student removed from lecture for attempting to record remarks FROM PUAR PAGE 3
claimed as an empowered identity” until the occupation ends, she said. During the question and answer session, anthropology professor Sergei Kan criticized Puar for using what he claimed were biased or unprofessional sources such as left-wing pro-Palestinean websites written in English. He asked whether she had command of Hebrew or Arabic, given the nature of her fieldwork. He also asked why Puar did not discuss Israelis who have been maimed by Palestinian “freedom fighters,” claiming that the exclusion is part of Puar’s “agenda.” While asking the last question, the microphone was taken away from him and given to another attendee. When she received the microphone back, Puar did address some of Kan’s criticisms. She said that she started learning Arabic while conducting fieldwork in Beirut and will continue to do so. She also claimed that he was selectively questioning her use of translators as a way of attempting to discredit her work, despite there being “many, many, many people who do field work all over the world with translators.” In response to his questions about her sources, Puar said that she is concerned with finding “subjugated knowledges” that are normally ignored because they are not written by people in power. “They are sources that are obscured by dominant media, and it’s really important for us to pay attention to the voices that aren’t getting heard in this conversation,” she said. She did not address his comments on Israelis being maimed. In an interview with The Dartmouth, Kan maintained his objections towards Puar’s sources. While he is not necessarily opposed to using websites as sources, or to seeking out marginalized voices, he said that Puar did not rely on any other type of source, or on any sources that were not pro-Palestine and anti-Israel. He attributed this to what he believed was a bias on Puar’s part in favor of Palestine, citing a section in her paper “The Right to Maim” that said, “The ultimate purpose of this analysis is to labor in the service of a Free Palestine.” He criticized Borderlands, the journal that published her article “The Right to Maim,” as “marginal” and ideologically slanted. He also disputed Puar’s claim that he was questioning her use of translators as a way of undermining her, though he said that many of her claims were inaccurate. Kan also claimed that while Puar never directly mentioned Jews in her speech, her remarks are consistent with a trend where attacks on Israel question not just its policies, but also
its very existence. On that level, he said, the speech approaches antiSemitism. Chabad co-president Matthew Goldstein ’18 had stronger views. Speaking in a personal capacity, he said that Puar’s statements fit three criteria of how anti-Semitism could potentially manifest in antiIsrael speech: demonization, double standards and delegitimization. For the first, he pointed to Puar’s past statements that claim Israel engages in organ harvesting from Palestinians, which he connected to past anti-Semitic rhetoric of blood libel. In a blog post from March, Puar wrote that the exact phrasing of her statement was, “Some [Palestinian families] speculate that [their children’s dead] bodies were mined for organs for scientific research.” In terms of double standards, Goldstein said that Puar placed Israel in a double bind by criticizing their “do-not-kill” policies when she would presumably also oppose the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces. He also said that Puar has not criticized other countries for similar actions. For the third point of delegitimization, Goldstein pointed to her association with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Goldstein also said that he believes anti-Zionism, when used to try and argue against the right to a Jewish state, is anti-Semitic, though he said that under some definitions of Zionism it might not be. He also said this does not mean that he believes Palestine should not exist. Chabad co-president Eliza Ezrapour ’18 said that Chabad is disappointed that students did not have more of a chance to engage in a dialogue with Puar at the event. Speaking as president of Chabad, she said that she considered some of Puar’s statements anti-Semitic, as they draw on traditional Jewish stereotypes while using inaccurate information. She also emphasized that Chabad does not seek to silence any speakers. Alex Safian, associate director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, also published a point-by-point refutation of Puar’s speech on the website Dartblog on Thursday evening. Others have maintained their support for Puar. In an email, GRID director Annabel Martín wrote that Puar “is a very esteemed scholar with a well-established intellectual trajectory.” Audience member and GRID fellow Veri di Suvero ’16 said that the situation in Israel is complex, and that because of the conflicting reports about the situation it is not necessarily possible to know whether or not there is a single truth about what is going on there. They said that some of Puar’s ideas, such as
the potential harvesting of organs, have also been investigated by Israeli scholars. They also said Puar demonstrated bravery in her willingness to speak out as a woman of color who is often misidentified as Arab or Muslim. GRID also published two letters on their website. The first was from Martín, in which she criticized The Dartmouth for what she called inaccurate reporting on Puar’s lecture. She also wrote that no one save for Kan had questioned Puar’s claims at the panel. The second was from a group of academics who called themselves the Bully Bloggers, consisting of New York University social and cultural analysis professor Lisa Duggan, University of Southern California American studies and ethnicity professor Jack Halberstam, New York University performance studies Tavia Nyong’o and University of Arizona women’s and gender studies professor Sandra Soto. In it, they described Puar’s paper as “solidly researched” and supported the quality of her sources. They also said the paper “included nothing even remotely anti-Semitic.” They also criticized The Dartmouth’s previous reporting. English professor Melissa Zeiger, who also holds appointments in the Jewish studies and women’s, gender and sexualities departments, wrote in an email that she was offended by claims that anti-Zionist arguments are anti-Semitic, as this implicitly claims that all Jews are Zionists. She also expressed support for the letters on GRID’s website. Women’s, gender and sexualities professor Eng-Beng Lim also supported GRID’s statements in an email. The talk has also drawn controversy over attempts by audience members to record it. Puar did not grant permission for her remarks to be recorded by anyone other than the College. The CD containing the audio recording has not been made available outside of the Jones Media Center. It was made available Monday afternoon after being catalogued by Jones. GRID submitted the recording the previous Thursday. Martín said that GRID is legally bound to abide by the wishes of presenters. Before panels, GRID asks speakers for permission to record them and upload copies of their talk to GRID’s website. While most presenters agree to be filmed for educational purposes, allowing a copy of their work to be viewed in the library, not all of them agree to allow other copies to be distributed, she said. In these cases, GRID cannot go against their directives. Goldstein said that he heard before the speech that there would not be a videotape of the event, and that there only might be an audio recording. He said that given
previous pushback from Puar about having her lectures recorded, he was not sure that the recording would actually be made, or how accessible it would be if it were made. Noting that he was speaking as a student and not as Chabad president, he said that he decided to attend the panel and make a recording to hold Puar accountable for her statements. Martín wrote that during a break between panels before Puar began speaking, she saw Goldstein setting up a camera and tripod. She asked him what he was doing, and upon hearing that he was making a recording told him that he could not because the panelists had not given their permission. After he refused twice to stop recording, she said, she called over a Safety and Security officer. The three of them left the room to discuss the situation, she said, but Goldstein reentered the room and continued to try recording. After telling Goldstein to stop for a third time, Martín said, she went to the front of the room and announced that unauthorized recordings would not be permitted. After that, Martín said, she went over to Goldstein for a fourth time and asked him to stop recording and instead to engage as a student. He still refused, so Martín asked a Safety and Security officer to remove him from the room. The three of them, an additional Safety and Security officer and Martín’s office manager all went into the hall and discussed the situation, she said. Goldstein still refused to stop the recording, she said, and so the Safety and Security officer called the Hanover Police Department. When the officer arrived, Goldstein packed up his camera and left. Other attendees, as well as Goldstein himself, corroborated Martín’s account. On the audio recording, the interaction between Goldstein and Martín is not audible. Michail Athanasakis ’18, a student Classroom Technology Services technician who was operating the sound and microphones at the event, said that Goldstein was seated behind him and that he could hear the interactions between Martín and Goldstein. He said that Martín asked Goldstein to stop recording, he refused, and they went back and forth for a little bit. Goldstein was warned multiple times that he could not make the recording, Athanasakis said. He also noted that Goldstein could definitely tell a recording was being made, as he was right next to the camera. di Suvero said that they spoke with Martín afterwards, and that Martín was very upset that the police had to be called. Goldstein’s version of events was essentially consistent with that of other students. One difference was that he claimed that Martín said that he would be removed “with force” or
“by force” if he did not stop recording — while he did not remember the exact phrase, he was positive that the word “force” was used. He was also generally agitated by the interactions and how he perceived her attitude towards him. Goldstein also said that Martín approached him once, not twice, before calling Safety and Security. Over email, Martín denied that she had threatened any sort of force against Goldstein. College spokeswoman Diana Lawrence wrote in an email no one was threatened with force or physically restricted during the event. Zeiger also wrote that the idea of Martín having used force against Goldstein is “laughable.” She commended Martín’s handling of the situation with Goldstein and how she urged him to turn off the camera and stay at the talk. Neither Athanasakis nor di Suvero said they heard any mentions or threats of force. Goldstein said he continued trying to record even after being told to stop because he was not confident that the recording would be made available, stating that he did not have much faith in GRID or other supporters of Puar. He also said that audio recordings as a medium are not as effective at holding people accountable as videos, because it is harder to identify people only by their voices and it is possible for people to impersonate others. After Puar’s presentation, the next panelist, professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Neel Ahuja, made a statement in support of Puar: “Before I begin I want to thank Jasbir, whose work has been an inspiration to me and to many of us in this room,” he said. “I also want to note the fact that our space has been disrupted and that Jasbir’s space has been disrupted, throughout that last talk. I want to note the irony that controversy about filming or recording Jasbir’s talk fulfills a certain algorithmic militarism that is evident from the comments she gave and capitalizes on the fact that black and brown bodies are on display openly critiquing forms of colonialism and racial power.” Ahuja wrote in an email, “The attempt to record the talk for online use was part of a larger smear campaign to silence research and reporting critical of Israeli war crimes in Palestine.” The Dartmouth previously reported that one Jewish student in attendance claimed that Ahuja’s comments might have been antiSemitic, because Goldstein was wearing a yarmulke. Both Martín and the Bully Bloggers were adamant that Ahuja’s comments were not anti-Semitic. Ahuja wrote that he had been “slandered in print.”
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
PAGE 6
DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
“Spotlight” (2015), Free Film Special, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
“Testing Fundamental Physics by Ranging to the Moon,” Room 104, Wilder Hall
8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
“For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf,” a play by Carene Mekertichyan ’16, Bentley Theater, Hopkins Center
TOMORROW
4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
“In Jackson Heights” (2015), directed by Fredrick Wiseman, Leow Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center
8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
“Back’s B-Minor Mass,” a choir concert by Handel Society, Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center
8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
“The Brothers Grimsby,” a spy comedy starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Loew Auditorium, Black Family Visual Arts Center
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FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
PAGE 7
Art History FSP participates in local Roman art project By ELISE HIGGINS
The Dartmouth Staff
This spring, Dartmouth students on the art history foreign study program collaborated with renowned artist William Kentridge on one of the largest public projects in Rome since the Sistine Chapel. The art piece, which premiered on April 21, is a gigantic frieze, 500 meters long and 10 meters tall, along the wall of the banks of the Tiber River. Titled “Triumphs and Laments: A Project for Rome,”it was created through the method of selective cleaning of patina, a thin layer of grime, that was growing on the wall of the bank. Art history professor Nicola Camerlenghi, who is leading the program, was put in touch with organizers of the project through mutual friends. He said the organizers were very eager to have students help out in any way possible. In fact, Camerlenghi said that in addition to Dartmouth students, many other students, especially local ones, were involved, in some cases to a larger degree because they had spent more time in Rome. Because the art history program involves so much traveling, it was somewhat difficult for the students to take an extremely active role in the project, Camerlenghi said. However, they were able to promote the project through social media.
Camerlenghi said that each student chose a particular scene from the frieze, all of which depicted either triumphs or laments throughout Rome’s history. Then, the students described, analyzed and posted about it online to advertise for Kentridge’s project. Gina Campanelli ’18, a student on the program, said she was grateful for the learning opportunities her involvement provided her. “I felt that researching specific images from the frieze really helped me connect both historically and artistically with the work,” Campanelli said. Due to the medium of the frieze, it will not last forever as moss and plants will eventually grow back on the wall. However, Camerlenghi said that in some ways the temporary nature of the project makes it more special. “I think there’s something magical about that,” Camerlenghi said. “We know it’s short term and that makes it meaningful.” John Ling ’17, another student on the program, decided to take an even larger role with Kentridge’s project and volunteer to help organize the logistics for the premier of the frieze. The frieze’s public opening involved various activities ranging from theatrical and musical performances to silhouette displays on the mural. Campanelli truly enjoyed the added experiences that the premier
offered. “Seeing the event itself with the play of shadows across the surface and the rhythmic chanting in the background really lent an animated dynamism to the work and created a truly beautiful experience,” Campanelli said. Ling enjoyed the additional activities at the premier as well. He was very appreciative of simply being able to see the work of art in person because he believes one can learn more by viewing it that way. Ling said that in previous art history courses his classes went to the Hood Museum to view artworks discussed in class. He valued that experience, so he looked forward to the excitement of being in Rome where he would be able to see other famous works of art. He found working on project like Kentridge’s to be a great opportunity for art history students. “You get out of it what you put into it,” Ling said of the opportunities that Rome has to offer. The ephemerality of the project means that another artist can do something new with space in a few years when it turns back into a blank canvas. The hope is that art projects like Kentridge’s will spur more activity around the Tiber river. Ling noted that there is not as much happening around the Tiber compared to rivers
in some other cities. “Rome’s river has been a silent presence in the city, so this is a most welcome invitation to view the Tiber for what it has always been — the city’s lifeline,” Camerlenghi said. “This art has brought back to life a part of the city that had been forgotten for so long.” Both Camerlenghi and the students on the program were excited about and proud of the work they did while in Rome. “Though we are only temporarily
in Rome, if we have the opportunity to make this a better place, make it more exciting place, then we should do that,” Camerlenghi said. Camerlenghi is hopeful that this class has set a precedent that future art history programs will follow. Ling appreciated the experience and hoped that other students would be able to have similar ones in the future. “I definitely see this becoming a very meaningful partnership,” Ling said.
COURTESY OF NICOLA CAMERLENGHI
The art history FSP students were able to help advertise the Roman exhibit.
Student Spotlight: Visual artist Sam Modder ’17 By SOPHIA SIU
The Dartmouth Staff
Growing up with an uncle and a half-sister who are both artists, Sam Modder ’17 naturally became involved with studio art at a young age. “Some of my earlier pieces were just my trying to copy my sister a little, but then I developed my own style,” Modder said. “She’s definitely one of my big influences.” Modder started out by drawing cartoons and playing around with felt pens, but found her passion for art after learning the crosshatching and scribble techniques in her school’s art class at age 13. “I had a great art teacher as a kid, she taught us a lot of technique,” Modder said. “It was probably pretty basic but at the time, it opened my eye to this whole new world of actually taking my art seriously.” Even after taking studio art classes that introduced her to various mediums, including sculpture, painting and printmaking, the mediums that Modder feels most comfortable are oil pastels and pen — the first mediums she worked with growing up.
Modder explained that oil pastels and ball-point pens were easily accessible, and after working with them over the years, they have become her go-to when she is working on personal projects. Although Modder’s style is constantly changing, she often uses contrasting blocks of color and thick, bold lines in her works. “I want you to see it across the room and walk towards it,” Modder said. When starting a new project, Modder normally has an image or idea in her head of what she envisions the work to be. After toying around with the picture in her head for a period of time, she finally puts it on paper. “When I put it on paper, it’s never quite what I want to see,” Modder said. “There’s this compromise that goes back and forth between this image in my head and the image that I have.” Although Modder doesn’t draw inspiration from a particular artist or style, she finds herself inspired by various works or photos that she sees and decides to put her own spin on them. Regarding the subjects of her works, Modder prefers to draw
people and faces. In her works, she often reflects on her identity as someone who is half-Nigerian and half-Sri-Lankan. “It tends to go around issues about identity, blackness, certain issues that are close to my heart like domestic violence or the media,” Modder said. Diane Jang ’15 took a sculpture class and “Drawing I” with Modder and noted the personal nature of Modder’s art. “A lot of her artwork deals with her cultural heritage and background,” Jang said. “I think it’s really passionate, and you can tell there’s a lot of warmth in it, and that her culture matters to her a lot. That’s where her heart is.” Modder’s final project for “Drawing II” consisted of a series of three drawings on newspapers articles that she had cut out and stitched together. Each drawing featured a woman’s face, seemingly in anguish, in bold, contrasting colors. The newspaper articles Modder chose to incorporate in her work were articles describing tragic events that had happened recently, including articles covering the Syrian refugee crisis, the Paris bombing, as well as the Black
Lives Matter protests. Modder began looking for articles before the Paris bombing, and when it happened she became frustrated by the idea that, while the bombing was a tragic event, in the papers it overshadowed other bad things that were happening. “I got really angry when I was looking through the newspapers because I couldn’t find the articles about bad stuff that was happening. It wasn’t just the bombing of Paris, there was other bad stuff that happened that week, and that was what dominated the news that week,” Modder said. “That became what the piece was about, as I was working on it, being consumed by media that was not even doing its job of reporting the right news.” Studio art professor Colleen Randall, who taught Modder in “Drawing II,” commented on the personal nature of Modder’s work. “[Modder] employs a very imaginative language of markmaking and mixes media to create imagery that is very personal to her emotionally,” Randall said. Before the start of her freshman year, Modder had originally intended to be an engineering
major modified with studio art. However, Modder eventually decided to fully take advantage of the opportunities offered to studio art majors and is now a double major in engineering and studio art. “I think I take my art as seriously as I take my engineering so I’m a double major. One isn’t a hobby. They are both equal,” Modder said. After g raduation, Modder hopes that art will continue to be more than just a hobby in her life. Although she isn’t sure exactly how she will incorporate art into her career, she said that even if she were to be an engineer, she would still want there to be a creative element to her work. “I don’t think I would be happy if it were just engineering. I like the logic of engineering. I like making useful things,” Modder said. “Art doesn’t have the purpose the same way that product does, so I like the idea of combining the two.” Quick quotes: Favorite snack: Grapes Favorite TV sho w: “Dr. W ho,” “Sherlock” Favorite museum: Dalí Theatre and Museum
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
SPORTS
PAGE 8
FRIDAY LINEUP
No athletic events scheduled
Korean baseball players in Major League Baseball By DANIEL LEE
The Dartmouth Staff
Though I am now someone who frequently checks the results of every single baseball game and tries to analyze sabermetrics, I was not interested in baseball for much of my life. The first time I enthusiastically went to a baseball game was after the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Hyun-Jin Ryu, the first player to come from the Korean Baseball Organization. The biggest spending team in Major League Baseball submitted a bid of $25,737,737.33 to the Hanwha Eagles, the Korean team that had Ryu under contract at the time, and the Dodgers ultimately signed Ryu to a six-year, $36 million contract. From that point forward, I continued to follow the Dodgers and visited Chavez Ravine more frequently to see Ryu rather than Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw, who won his second Cy Young that year. What captivated me the most was seeing someone of the same nationality as me playing for the team that represented the city I call home. At times, Ryu’s success seemed almost personal and it didn’t take very long for me to understand why so many Latinos and Japanese Americans supported MLB players who came from the same country as themselves. Ryu was one of few Korean players, and even fewer Korean pitchers, to play for a MLB team. His most successful predecessor was Chan Ho Park who pitched 17 seasons in the MLB. There is no doubt that his performances were heavily scrutinized by almost every single Major League team to determine whether signing players from the KBO was a worthwhile investment. After Ryu earned 14 wins, a 3.00 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 192 innings his first season, he quickly became one of the best pitchers in the league. His success and ability to quickly adapt to Major League hitters gave oversea MLB scouters every reason to look more carefully into the KBO. The Baltimore Orioles were the next team to take the risk and signed former KBO Most Valuable Player, three-time KBO All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Suk-Min Yoon to a three-year, $5.75 million contract. However, after an abysmal spring training and
tough stint in the minor leagues with the Norfolk Tides, Yoon accepted a buyout deal and returned to Korea, forfeiting the $4.15 million left in the last two years of his contract. Despite the heartbreaking failure of Yoon’s attempt at pitching for the MLB, this season the St. Louis Cardinals signed Korean closer Seung-hwan Oh, who most recently pitched for the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan after nine years in the KBO. Oh agreed to a one-year deal with a club option for 2017, which could be worth around $5 million if the option for a second year is exercised. After pitching in 16 games this season, Oh has evidently proved that he could handle a new environment, recording 20 strikeouts in 16.1 innings and holding a 1.65 ERA for the red birds. In the completely different part of the game, the Pittsburgh Pirates introduced the very first Korean position player to the MLB, JungHo Kang, to a four-year $11 million contract with a $5.5 million club option for the fifth year in 2015. Despite a tough spring training, Kang quickly became a fan favorite after batting .287 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs his rookie season, finishing third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting behind Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant and the San Francisco Giants’ Matt Duffy. This season, five Korean baseball players made their debuts in the MLB, including Oh. The Minnesota Twins signed Byung-Ho Park, the Seattle Mariners signed Dae-Ho Lee, the Los Angeles Angels signed Ji-man Choi and the Orioles signed Hyun-Soo Kim. Two years after Ryu’s first season, it was clear the ripple effect that he had on league, trailblazing the way for five new players from the KBO. Three other players made their debuts earlier: Ryu, Kang and Texas Rangers outfielder, Shin Soo Choo, who signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Mariners after high school in Korea. It has become significantly more difficult for Korean television networks to be able to broadcast three games almost every day, but the excitement that it brought to Koreans around the world was unprecedented. It is clear that many MLB teams have underestimated the ability of Korean players to succeed in a more rigorous level of baseball
given the performance of the eight active players thus far. Their success has not only attracted many
Korean American fans to the game of baseball, but has sent a clear message that foreign players from
different leagues are just as capable of competing at the highest level of the game.
DANIEL LEE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
In the 2013 National League Championship Series, Hyun-Jin Ryu became the first Korean pitcher to get a postseason win.
DANIEL LEE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Hyun-Jin Ryu recorded seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits, to record the victory against the St. Louis Cardinals.