VOL. CLXXI NO. 57
PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 46 LOW 27
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Candidates talk Assembly role Albright shares
anecdotes, views on diplomacy By MICHAEL QIAN The Dartmouth Staff
During the debate, each pair of running mates could respond to questions posed by the moderator, The Dartmouth’s executive editor Michael Riordan ’15. They could also take part in an optional rebuttal period. After the planned questions ended, there was enough time for one audience member to ask the candidates a question. Running mates Miller and Qi said they would focus on
Before an audience of around 900 people, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright conversed with Dickey Center director Daniel Benjamin in Spaulding Auditorium Tuesday afternoon, interspersing lighthearted anecdotes with serious political discussion. Introduced by Benjamin as “one of the most compelling figures” in recent history and a “beacon for democracy and human rights around the world,” Albright was described by several audience members as witty and funny. Albright, who served as Secretary of State under former President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001 and was the first woman in the role, spoke on Thursday about foreign policy, U.S. Congressional gridlock and the role of women in politics. Benjamin started the conversation by asking Albright about what he called the “perilous state of affairs” in the Ukraine. She responded by calling recent events a “game-changer.” A self-described Soviet expert, Albright referenced her experience dealing with Cold War policy and related it to the current crisis in the Ukraine. NATO countries, she said, have endeavored to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin into
SEE DEBATE PAGE 5
SEE ALBRIGHT PAGE 5
JOSH RENAUD/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Student Assembly presidential and vice-presidential candidates attended the first debate last night.
B y Sara McGahan The Dartmouth Staff
SPORTS
TENNIS TEAMS BOTH BEAT CORNELL, FALL TO COLUMBIA PAGE 8
OPINION
DIVERSITY BEYOND NUMBERS PAGE 4
In a debate Tuesday night, Student Assembly presidential and vice presidential candidates discussed the Assembly’s role and achievements on campus, sexual assault, the new residential housing system and the “Freedom Budget.” The debate, held in Paganucci Lounge and hosted by The Dartmouth, is the first of several that will occur this
week. Presidential candidates Casey Dennis ’15, Jon Miller ’15 and Yesuto Shaw ’15 and vice presidential candidates Frank Cunningham ’16 and Harry Qi ’17 took part in the debate. For the first time this year, at the request of the candidates, both presidential and vice presidential candidates can participate in all debates, Elections Planning and Advisory Committee chair Ryan Tibble ’14 said.
African leaders to visit Few women address graduates for national program B y JOSH KOENIG
ARTS
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This summer, 25 leaders in business and entrepreneurship from subSaharan Africa will come to Dartmouth as part of the Washington Fellowship, a new State Department program designed to spur economic advancements and strengthen democracy the region. Dartmouth is one of 21 institutions selected as hosts for the program. The program, part of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative, is divided into three areas of focus: business and entrepreneurship,
civic leadership and public management. Dartmouth will focus on business and entrepreneurship. After a six-week intensive program in Hanover, the 25 leaders will join the around 500 fellows from other institutions for a multi-day summit at the White House. The participants, between ages 25 to 35, will be selected from a pool of roughly 50,000 applicants. The official selections will be made this month. Participation in the initiative marks a potential move toward a more international
Only 10 female commencement speakers have addressed a graduating class from behind the Lone Pine podium since the start of the 20th century, accounting for just 17.5 percent of the College’s recorded commencement speakers over that time span. While trends have begun to shift since the beginning of coeducation in 1972, the College maintains a historically low record of inviting female speakers to commencement, according to information compiled by archival specialists at Rauner
SEE FELLOWSHIP PAGE 3
SEE COMMENCEMENT PAGE 3
ERIN O’NEIL/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Only 10 women have addressed graduates at commencement.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
PAGE 2
DAily debriefing Thayer School of Engineering professor Keith Paulsen and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center orthopedics department chair Sohail Mirza collaborated to create the Center for Surgical Innovation, the first surgical facility dedicated to translational research in the U.S., Dartmouth Engineer Magazine reported. The $20 million center, which features two operating rooms, imaging rooms, offices and labs, first received funding in 2010. It will be used to test new approaches in the operating room that combine different aspects of medicine. The 12,000-square foot center is also distinguished from other surgical centers around the country, as it is completely separate from DHMC’s operating rooms, which means research and clinical care will not compete. Young people both see and are influenced by direct tobacco marketing, according to a study published by Norris Cotton Cancer Center researcher Samir Soneji, Business Standard reported. The study showed that this exposure leads to increased tobacco usage. Soneji and his team found that 12 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds and 26 percent of 18- to 23-year-olds were exposed to direct-to-consumer marketing. In a national sample of over 2,000 Americans taken in March, government professor Kyle Dropp, working with political scientists Thomas Zeitzoff and Dickey Center fellow Joshua Kertzer, found that respondents were more likely to want the U.S. to intervene militarily in the Ukraine if they did not know where it was, the Washington Post reported. This was true even after controlling for demographic characteristics and general attitudes toward foreign policy. The researchers said the results are important, as a lack of information can influence Americans’ attitudes about policy and thus the final form policy will take. They also found that younger Americans, men, college graduates and self-identified independents were more likely to outperform other respondents. Only one in six Americans correctly located the Ukraine. – COMPILED BY NANCY WU
CORRECTIONS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
Hogarty starts campus planning job B y AMELIA ROSCH
The Dartmouth Staff
About a month after starting as vice president for campus planning and facilities, Lisa Hogarty is planning for the College’s new housing system and ensuring that buildings are well-maintained. Hogarty, appointed in February, said her job is to oversee the operations and management of College facilities, ranging from commercial properties in Lebanon to graduate schools and residence halls. “We’re making sure that we make people’s environments as comfortable as possible,” she said. “We want the service to be as good as it can be and to reflect the excellence of the institution.” She said that this term, she will focus on preparing the current residence halls for the switch to a new housing system. The College will introduce living learning communities in the fall, Board of Trustees chair Steve Mandel ’78 announced March 21 in an email. These residential spaces, open to upperclassmen, will include current affinity houses and new residential communities based around a common theme, as well as a designyour-own option. The first step, she said, is using a facility condition index to measure the current state
of campus buildings. Hogarty said that, compared to those at Dartmouth’s peer institutions, most buildings are in good shape. Campus planning and facilities is currently working on fixing the roof of the Alumni Gym and updating safety systems in several of the residence halls, Hogarty said. She has also been working on the capital projects budget, which includes construction and renovations with capital costs over $25,000. “It’s how we make sure that the new programs are going to rise to the level of institutional priority and making sure they are well thoughtthrough, how the costs will change based on the new program, so we can maintain the building once it is built,” she said. The biggest change in the College’s capital budget, she said, will come from the proposed expansion to the Thayer School of Engineering. Hogarty said she is also working on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Geisel School of Medicine’s Williamson Translational Research Building. Campus planning and facilities project management director Matthew Purcell, who will work with Hogarty on the Kappa Delta house and the Triangle House, a residence for LGBTQ students and
allies, said their team will work to deliver projects that help the College “meet its vision and goals.” Frank Roberts, associate vice president of facilities, operation and management, said he looks forward to working with Hogarty because of her focus on improvement. “She comes from a background of service and has a vision for providing service,” he said. Hogarty, who previously served as Harvard University’s vice president of campus services, said her favorite project at the university was installing chairs in Harvard Yard to make it a “destination” for students and community members. “It used to feel like the Sistine Chapel and now, people feel like they can stay and hang out there,” she said. She said the biggest difference between her work at Harvard and her current work at the College is the scale. “It’s all the work that I did at Harvard but at an institutional level,” Hogarty said. “I think about this job as an ability to plan, design, build and run a program. It’s very holistic.” So far, she said, she has enjoyed working with colleagues and students, noting a high level of engagement.
THE ITSY BITSY SPIDER
We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com. “Administrators, alumni discuss professional development” (April 8, 2014): The article misattributed the idea that students’ familiarity with technology gives them skills that are often inaccessible to more experienced workers, but may also leave them vulnerable to social gaffes in the workplace. It was the Center for Prossional Development director Roger Woolsey who said this.
Thursday, April 10, 2014 • Haldeman 041 3:00 PM YOUNG ALUMNI-AE ACTIVIST PANEL Javed Jaghai ’12, Activism in the Age of Western Imperialism Susan Struble ’93, Dartmouth Change and Campus Life: Getting to the Roar on the Other Side of Silence Danielle Coleman ’12, Sex Work Feminism(s): Grassroots Mobilizing Through Intersecting Oppressions
ALEX BECKER/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
4:30 PM ACTIONS, PASSIONS, CRISES Denis Goldberg, ANC http://www.dartmouth.edu/~grid
ALEX BECKER/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Louise Bourgeois’s “Crouching Spider” left the Maffei Arts Plaza yesterday morning after over a year on campus.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
PAGE 3
Young African entrepreneurs to spend six weeks on campus FROM FELLOWSHIP PAGE 1
Dartmouth, Dickey Center director Daniel Benjamin said. “Dartmouth is interested in and continues to pursue an ever greater international footprint, international engagement,” he said. Amy Newcomb, the center’s student programs officer and the academic director of the Washington Fellowship program, said the program will build connections
across sub-Saharan Africa that span many industries. Newcomb added that Dartmouth will benefit from having a multidisciplinary program. The program begins with a twoweek design thinking course and workshop at the Thayer School of Engineering, followed immediately by a four-week session on entrepreneurship taught by Gregg Fairbrothers, a Tuck School of Business professor and founder of
the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network. “We want them to understand that entrepreneurship is a way of thinking rather than something you do,” Fairbrothers said. Participants will attend weekly leadership seminars at the Rockefeller Center and community service projects hosted by the Tucker Foundation, Newcomb said. The fellows will also take a canoe trip sponsored by the outdoor programs
office and spend a weekend at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, through a program similar to freshman trips, outdoor programs office deputy director Brian Kunz said. The upcoming fellowship resembles a program that the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network hosts in conjunction with the Balkan Institute, which brought five young entrepreneurs from Kosovo to Hanover for three months last year. The relationship between the
College and the participants will be symbiotic, as Dartmouth will learn from the fellows’ perspectives and experiences, said Thomas Candon, associate managing director of the Dickey Center. A $100,000 State Department grant, which participating schools will match, will fund the program nationally. The College has committed to participate for one year, but the program may be implemented annually in the future.
Commencement history shows few female speakers selected FROM COMMENCEMENT PAGE 1
Special Collections Library. Although the record of all commencement speakers at the College remains incomplete — and it is difficult in some cases to determine the demographic and biographical details of speakers — it appears that under 5.5 percent of all recorded Dartmouth commencement speakers have been female. Between 1900 and 1942, no outside speaker addressed Dartmouth’s graduates. Although it is possible to trace recorded speakers back to 1795, many were simply invited to campus by student groups, unlike the modern practice of selecting a single speaker. The College graduated its first class in 1771. Professor of Spanish, women and gender studies and comparative literature Annabel Martin said in an email that, while the lack of historical diversity is disappointing, speakers should be chosen based on out-of-the-box thinking and efforts to promote social justice rather than a “‘check-box’ method of identity.” Twenty-five students interviewed about the historical lack of female speakers expressed a wide range of opinions. Many noted that they were not overly concerned with the demographic composition of commencement speakers, but rather with the quality of the speaker’s commentary and their accomplishments in the professional world. Other students said the history of commencement speakers is an example of the College’s inability to address its own internal biases. Previous speakers at the College have included Robert Frost, who enrolled with the Class of 1896, former President Bill Clinton, physicist Shirley Ann Jackson and Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias Sanchez. Allison Puglisi ’15, co-president of the Women of Color Collective, said she was taken aback by the statistics. “When you’re sending a diverse graduating class into the world with a speaker and that person is always
a white male, that’s a problem,” Puglisi said. “What does that say to graduates about success?” At Dartmouth, responsibility for selecting each year’s commencement speaker falls to the Council on Honorary Degrees, a committee under the auspices of the President’s Office that is composed of three undergraduate professors and three graduate professors. The committee solicits nominations from the Dartmouth community and recommends a list of speakers to the President, who in turn presents a list of nominees to the Board of Trustees for final approval. Only one student, the senior class president, is invited to attend Council meetings. He or she serves in an advisory capacity. “I did feel that I had a say in the process,” senior class president Chisom Obi-Okoye ’14 said in an email. “But that doesn’t mean that I selected the speaker. It’s a process that involves more people than were in that room.” Obi-Okoye said that while students are often inclined to request speakers with high name recognition or popularity, faculty members had a clear focus on whether the speaker’s work was worthy of an honorary degree. Dartmouth has yet to announce its commencement speaker for the Class of 2014. “While popularity would be nice, it’s more important that the speaker be someone who engages with their work in a really critical way,” Obi-Okoye said. Dartmouth is not the only Ivy League university with historically few female perspectives at commencement ceremonies. Only 8 percent of recorded speakers at the University of Pennsylvania have been women, according to a recent report by the Daily Pennsylvanian, and Harvard University has welcomed only eight female commencement speakers to Cambridge since 1831, two fewer than Dartmouth. So far this year, no Ivy League institution has announced a female commencement speaker from
outside its own faculty or student body. Past female commencement speakers at Dartmouth have included Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia, Doris Kearns Goodwin, famed historian and biographer, and Jill Ker Conway, former president of Smith College. In her speech to the Class of 1990, Conway urged graduating seniors to find the line of work that truly motivated them and avoid the temptation to “rush to Wall Street,” while Johnson-Sirleaf asked graduates in the Class of 2008 to become “agents of change.” Rauner archives supervisor Bar-
bara Krieger said in an email that inviting a “single, special” commencement speaker only became common practice at Dartmouth after World War II. “It appears to be more of a 20th century practice,” she said. The first woman to speak at a Dartmouth commencement after World War II was New York City Opera director Beverly Sills, who addressed the Class of 1985. Sills said she had agreed to speak at the College based on her personal friendship with several graduates. During the early years of College history, student speeches played a more dominant role in
ceremonies than they do now, said College history expert and former professor Jere Daniell. “Who speaks at commencement has changed immensely over time,” Daniell said. “There was a period in the 1830s during which all seniors spoke. It drove everyone nuts.” Information on commencement speakers at the College has primarily been compiled from programs distributed at the ceremonies themselves and from a manuscript notebook that documents commencement exercises from 1771 to 1837, Krieger said. A list of all commencement speakers at the College remains incomplete.
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
PAGE 4
Contributing Columnist Kyle bigley ’17
Guest columnist Si yon kim ’16
Adding Alternatives
Diversity Beyond Numbers
Dartmouth needs more non-Greek alternatives like the new housing system. It was like the floodgates had opened, a wave of dependency on the Greek system rushing forth. Only after having experienced both the freshman ban from fraternities and the ban’s sudden lift could I see the degree to which fraternities dominate social life at Dartmouth. During the six-week ban on fraternities last fall, freshmen moved between dorms, searching for something to do at night. Although the College held some events, many were poorly attended, so they did not make for the best venues to meet other campus newcomers. Many freshmen call their opening weeks “boring,” but, hey, we were still meeting new people, even if the threat of undergraduate advisors breaking up our gatherings loomed overhead. At least people were talking to one another. But a lot has changed since the ban was lifted. At first, the appeal of previously forbidden fruit was a breath of fresh air. Finally, we had “choices” — we could choose which fraternity to visit. Soon, distinctions between many fraternities blurred. Each one had a similar setting: pong tables, loud music, large quantities of Keystone and the occasional dance party in the near-pitch black. In contrast to the low-key environment of dorm rooms, I found that there is much more pressure to drink in frats, where the central activity is either playing pong or getting drinks at the bar. It became increasingly clear that we had no “choices.” When everyone else is going to fraternities, is there a choice? Many of my friends tend to go to fraternities on weekend nights because they are not sure what else to do, not necessarily because they love fraternities or the drinking associated with them. After all, in fraternities, drinking — often heavy drinking — is inevitable. Greek life’s monopoly on the social scene fosters heavy drinking, which in turn thwarts any spirit of intellectual discovery. Of course, having fun at college is certainly important. Who doesn’t like fun? But nihilistic drinking is not the best way to spend our formative years. Is it possible to engage in intellectual dialogues that extend beyond the threshold of any classroom door when students spend up to four nights a week downing Keystones and the
subsequent mornings (and often afternoons) recovering? At the most basic level, the loud music makes it difficult to have conversations. Throw in large quantities of alcohol and you’d be hard-pressed to find any substantial connection or growth in a frat basement. Heavy drinking prevents us from intellectually engaging with one another and thinking critically about the world around us. As Dartmouth students, we have so many resources available to enhance our learning, yet so many of us students engage in behavior destructive to both our bodies and our minds. Although many students realize the profound impact extreme drinking can have on their hearts and livers, as well as brains that do not fully develop until age 25, we often do not consider that the time we spend drinking could be better spent. There is an opportunity cost associated with our nights in fraternity basements. When we spend multiple nights a week playing pong or binge drinking recklessly, we miss out on other chances for self-fulfillment or personal growth. Sure, kids drink heavily at other colleges as well. Yet because there are few, if any, viable social alternatives to the Greek system, our institutional framework helps create this culture of inebriation. Our school’s size and isolation limits our social choices. The answer to this problem is difficult and complicated. It is difficult for a small college in a small town to provide an alternate social scene. But an attempt to create a culture that is not entirely predicated on heavy drinking is a worthwhile endeavor. The proposed residential college system is a viable option. This new system could provide students with a chance to bond without the presence of large quantities of alcohol. The College should continue to work on improving and adding non-Greek social choices, because current options are scarce and dissatisfying. The College hosts some events, but there are still relatively few spaces for students to socialize outside of the Greek system. Without alternatives to the Greek scene, students will continue to perpetuate this cycle of excessive alcohol consumption often because they are unsure what else to do.
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ISSUE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
NEWS EDITOR: Nancy Wu. LAYOUT EDITOR: Sonia Robiner, TEMPLATING EDITOR: Sean Cann. COPY EDITOR: Claire Park.
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.
The College must recognize its unfulfilled obligations to minority students. When a Wall Street Journal opinion piece (“Oppressed by the Ivy League,” April 4, 2014) came to Dartmouth’s defense following the student protest last week, many students expressed enthusiastic relief. It is interesting that the author of the article and its on-campus supporters find the protesters’ demands absurd primarily because Dartmouth already has quite a number of students from minority backgrounds. Yes, Dartmouth is more diverse than it used to be — the institution’s demographics have radically transformed in the past few decades. The Class of 2002, for example, comprised only 20 percent students of color and 4 percent international students; nearly 39 percent of the Class of 2017 identified as African American, Asian American, Hispanic, Native American or multiracial, and 9 percent came from outside the U.S. If Dartmouth has been so open to admitting more students from diverse backgrounds, how could it possibly be as oppressive as protesters claim? However, increasing diversity is not as easy as simply increasing the number of students identifying with different minority groups. In fact, historical examples show that societies that diversify without adequate preparation often experience social upheaval. The fall of the Roman Empire is a good example. While the Empire was already in decline, the mass migration of Germanic Tribes exacerbated the situation by creating conflicts between those tribes that wanted to integrate into Roman society and the Romans who refused to take these “barbarians” seriously, which in turn accelerated Roman disintegration. Centuries later, the urban areas in the U.S. became centers of protest as the Great Migration radically transformed urban demographics to include vast numbers of African Americans rightfully distressed by unjust systems that were slow to provide them with well deserved equal rights. In other words, the price of increased diversity without adequate structural reform can be steep. Dartmouth has been unwilling to acknowledge its diversity bills, slow to implement radical structural changes to reflect the radical transformation in student demographics. The College intended a mass migration of peoples previously considered
foreign to this institution and thus had ample time to prepare for its consequences. Yet, when I matriculated, I found myself in a school where, because of my race, I found I had a significantly lower chance than my white peers of fitting in, particularly into the prevailing College-condoned, male-dominated social hierarchy called Greek life (not to mention that it is abominable that such a social stratification exists); where the heritage of different Asian Americans has been largely excluded from intellectual discourse although 16 percent of the enrollment of last fall’s student body self-identified as Asian American; where legitimate academic disciplines such as African and African American studies, Latin American, Latino and Caribbean studies, Native American studies and women’s and gender studies have remained programs, not departments, for decades, reinforcing the notion that these are not legitimate academic disciplines; and where the ratio of minority faculty remains so low that professors of color are almost invisible. This is my experience with oppressive systems at work here as a woman of color; others’ experiences may differ in their details. But the larger point is that these grievances were sure to arise when the school decided to add “diversity” as a core value, and that these grievances remain to this day, unrecognized and unaddressed. Many students believe that the discontented, a large portion of whom come from minority backgrounds, should simply transfer if they are so ungrateful for the privileges of a Dartmouth experience. However, we must note that minority groups help the College as well, providing perspectives critical to intellectual vibrancy that puts Dartmouth on par with other prestigious academic institutions. But instead of being treated as full citizens of Dartmouth as promised, minority groups have been relegated to second-class citizenship for decades, their presence a matter of numbers rather than a matter of the voices and concerns they bring to campus. The school must now make its stance clear. If it does not mean to implement long overdue structural changes to reflect the radical transformation of the face of Dartmouth, then the college should stop pretending that it is no longer an old white-boy’s club.
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
PAGE 5
Former Secretary of State discusses diplomacy, makes crowd laugh FROM ALBRIGHT PAGE 1
their group, but he has resisted the effort. Albright was critical of Putin’s leadership and added that she believes Russia has psychologically lost its identity. “He makes up facts,” Albright said, adding that NATO is not anti-Russian
as Putin has previously declared. Following this topic, Benjamin elicited Albright’s opinions on nationalism, which she referred to as a “two-edged sword.” She said that, despite some positives, nationalism can become dangerous, especially when construed into a “hate-your-neighbor” mentality.
Candidates share differing visions for SA leadership FROM DEBATE PAGE 1
initiatives that affect the student body on a daily basis such as improving Dartmouth Dining Services and Green Print. Miller said his first step as student body president would be to send out an extensive, campus-wide survey, adding that he would aim to bolster the sense of community at Dartmouth by encouraging students to attend more sporting events. Qi noted that his past work in the Assembly, such as publicizing course reviews, as why he is a strong candidate. Shaw said he would make a good president due to his three years of Assembly involvement and his “experience and approachable personality.” As president, he said, his priority would be to increase the Assembly’s relevance to students, which he would do by sending out termly blitzes outlining its actions and accomplishments. Dennis and Cunningham emphasized uniting the community, and Dennis noted that he would focus on creating environments where students respect and listen to one another. Candidates generally agreed on the role of the Assembly as a liaison between students and the administration. They also agreed that the planned residential housing system will help foster a sense of community among upperclassmen. Dennis and Miller disagreed about whether all freshmen should be required to go through the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative program during Orientation week. Although he supports the bystander initiative, Miller said he believes the Assembly should not require freshmen to undergo training, saying it is more effective when students choose to participate. Cunningham, speaking for both himself and Dennis, said he believes mandatory training will help unite the community and integrate the program’s lessons into campus culture. Candidates also presented opposing ideas on Assembly priorities. Dennis said he believes that
focusing on small issues like Green Print are not the most effective way to improve the school or increase application rates, nothing that he will address everyday issues during his presidency but will focus on the larger goal of uniting the Dartmouth student body. Shaw said the president should focus on smaller aspects of student life that the Assembly can change. Miller said he would focus on concrete goals that can be accomplished within the Assembly’s scope. Riordan also asked how candidates would have responded to the recent sit-in in College President Phil Hanlon’s office. Dennis said he would have encouraged students to express their feelings and views. Qi, speaking for Miller and himself, said he would have responded in two ways: holding an open conversation and surveying campus to gauge student opinion. Although he believed the message of the sit-in was important, Miller said it could have been delivered differently. Shaw said he believes that it is important to be sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of all students, and said he would have tried to meet with the leaders of the protest. Presidential candidate Jay Graham ’15 and his vice presidential running mate Matthew Robinson ’15 could not attend Tuesday’s debate. Graham, a member of the baseball team, was in Boston for a game last night. Robinson was unable to make the debate due to a job interview and an Inter-Fraternity Council meeting. Both candidates will attend all other debates, Graham said. About 35 students initially attended the debate, and around 20 remained until the end. Student Assembly will host a debate today and the Inter-Community Council will host a debate Friday. The EPAC plans to organize a debate hosted by the Greek Leadership Council, but as of press time the date had not been released. Campaigning began Tuesday at midnight, and voting will occur Monday, April 14.
Albright also discussed Israeli-Palestinian relations, the Arab Spring, the U.S. outlook on foreign policy, America’s domestic political climate and what she called the “rolling genocide” in Syria. Turning to domestic politics, Albright indicated her discomfort with the bipartisan gridlock in Congress. She shared a personal story of her collaboration with influential conservative Senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), recollecting a road trip they took to a lecture. Some called them the “odd couple,” she said. Around halfway through the conversation, Benjamin inquired about Albright’s opinions on women in the political sphere. She said there should be more women in Congress, but qualified the statement by saying that men and women should work together, as anyone who thinks only women should run the world has “forgotten high school.” Albright — a mother of three, including one daughter in the Class of 1983 — also said that “every woman’s middle name is guilt.” She said that the people who made her feel the worst throughout her life were often women. “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” she said, echoing a statement she has said many times. Albright also shared her personal outlook on life. She described herself as an “optimist who worries a lot,” pointing to her experiences in America
TREVELYAN WING/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited campus yesterday.
and her children as reasons to remain positive. Noting that she enjoys attending naturalization ceremonies, Albright cited the immense value of U.S. citizenship. She jokingly added that she has done pretty well since emigrating to America. She also discussed the pins she became known for wearing to express her thoughts and feelings, which she said have gotten her both in and out of trouble. At the end of the conversation, Albright took questions from the audience. Students and community members
asked about U.S.-China relations, the country’s knowledge of terrorist activity prior to Sept. 11 and the implications of NATO’s stipulations, among other topics. Albright said America’s relationship with China is its most important connection of this century. Throughout the 90-minute event, audience members applauded and laughed often. On campus, Albright also spoke with several faculty members and attended a luncheon with students in the Dickey Center’s Great Issues Scholars program.
Call for Comments on Proposed Sexual Assault Disciplinary Policy We want your feedback regarding the proposal to comprehensively revise Dartmouth’s student disciplinary policy for charges of sexual assault. The proposed policy changes include mandatory expulsion in certain cases of sexual assault and a new investigatory process employing outside investigators. The changes aim to encourage reporting, expedite the disciplinary process, enhance consistency in sanctioning, and represent a stronger deterrent to sexual assault. For more info, go to: dartgo.org/sacomments Please submit your comments and suggestions by April 14 to: Proposed.Sexual.Assault.Policy@Dartmouth.edu Or, you can share your evaluation and comments online publicly at: ImproveDartmouth.com Comment period runs through Monday, April 14
PAGE 6
DARTMOUTH EVENTS
THE DARTMOUTH COMICS
Mundane Madness
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
Anthony Chicaiza ’17
TODAY 11:00 a.m. Rosary prayer group, Collis 209
4:15 p.m. Computer science colloquium, “Trustworthy Hardened Code,” Greg Morrisett, professor of computer science at Harvard College, Steele 006
6:00 p.m. VoxMasters session, “Interviews,” Rockefeller Center, Class of 1930 Room
TOMORROW All Day Exhibit, “Spring Flowers: Artists’ books,” Sherman Art Library
4:00 p.m. Alumni reading, Snowden Wright ’04, Sanborn Library, Wren Room
7:00 p.m. National Theatre Live, “Frankenstein,” Black Family VIsual Arts Center, Loew Auditorium
ADVERTISING For advertising information, please call (603) 646-2600 or email info@thedartmouth. com. The advertising deadline is noon, two days before publication. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Opinions expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of The Dartmouth, Inc. or its officers, employees and agents. The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 01999931
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
PAGE 7
Lasser ’57 talks American music Evaristo recites from latest work in reading
B y Marley Marius The Dartmouth Staff
Michael Lasser ’57 is a lecturer, writer and critic. Raised in New Jersey — “with Manhattan on my left and the Jersey Shore on my right” — Lasser has made his name as a great arbiter of American music from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, hosting the nationallysyndicated and Peabody Awardwinning radio show “Fascinatin’ Rhythm” for the past 34 years and penning “America’s Songs I and II.” Lasser has also served as a theater critic for The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle and as director and curator of the Wilson Arts Center in Rochester, N.Y. After graduating from Dartmouth, he continued to study at Brooklyn College and Rutgers University. How would you boil down your role in the various positions you’ve held? Michael Lasser: I was and still am a museum-goer, a theater-goer, a critic — someone who wrote about the arts, someone who installed exhibits, but not someone who painted or wrote novels. So I’ve had a derivative function, in the same way that actors have a derivative function: no playwright, no actor. How was your interest in the arts first stoked, and how did Broadway and American standards come to mean so much to you? ML: I was fortunate to have a mother who loved the theater and ballet, and who was a serious “Sunday painter” — an amateur who has a certain amount of skill. [She] took me to museums and to the ballet. I lived near New York City growing up, and so I would go out and play ball in the mornings with my friends and then go to the ballet in the afternoon with my mother, and I grew up not knowing that that was strange. She was the one, really, who gave me the opportunity to discover these things. I grew up just in the crease between the Great American Songbook and “Rock Around the Clock,” the coming of rock ‘n’ roll. Rock ‘n’ roll was fun, but it didn’t really excite me. And so, because I loved the theater and one of the things I went to was musicals, I eventually started looking back rather than forward, and found those songs much more interesting in terms of the quality of the writing. What keeps the Great American Songbook relevant? ML: In popular music [today], melody has almost disappeared. I think people respond to melody. You don’t expect young people to turn aside from the music of their own time, [...] but you take those
B y Hallie Huffaker The Dartmouth Staff
Courtesy of the Evansville Museum
Michael Lasser ’57 is the host of the radio show “Fascinatin’ Rhythm.”
people to a musical, say a revival of something that’s 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 years old, and they enjoy themselves. I think one of the reasons they like those songs is that they rediscover melody. One of the things that drives me crazy today is the repetitiveness of the lyrics. The lyricists from the time I’m interested in were masters of the same techniques that poets used: rhyme, internal rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance and all of the techniques in the poet’s bag are theirs, too. They create sentiment, emotion, which brings you close, but they also write with wit which requires you to step back, arch your eyebrow and take a clear look. They put the two together through their inventiveness with language. Where does the Great American Songbook fit into the greater American narrative? ML: Songs today really don’t tell a story. They are about right now, and “No one’s ever felt the way I do,” and “Nothing’s ever been more precious than this second.” The songs of the Great American Songbook overall took a broader point of view. Most of the songs were about young love as you’d expect, [...] but there was a range of points-of-view. And the songs were also connected to the world: [...] when the telephone was new and exciting, there were love songs about talking on the telephone. When women started to expand they way they lived in the world around the turn of the 20th century, there were love songs about women being more independent. The songs weren’t only about personal feeling, they were also connected to common experience in the world. Comparing the works and artists on which you’ve built your career to current musical styles, what would you say people of our generation have gained and what have we lost? ML: When I was young, I could stand at a piano with my mother and my grandmother and the three
of us could sing for hours the same things. Each of us knew songs the other didn’t because there were generational differences, but we knew a vast body of songs in common. Songs were a kind of cultural glue that connected us, whereas today, songs define a generation. Both are perfectly legitimate social functions for songs, but I much prefer the first. First, because I grew up on it, and second, I think that America is a very unlikely place. We’re so varied, we’re so diverse, that anything that holds us together without doing a lot of damage, or without being illegal or immoral, is all to the good. So there’s nothing wrong with finding some of your identity in a song or a singer or a songwriter, but the price you pay for it is high because you diminish your connection to other people who are not your age. It’s the same with social media, email and Internet. You only have to read what you already are interested in and already believe. You never have to encounter anyone or anything that takes issue with you. And that’s the great value of the liberal arts education. What do you like best about your job? ML: The chance to hear songs I haven’t heard before that I’ve come to love [and] the chance to see playwrights and actors. You’re discovering new stuff all the time, and it’s sometimes infuriating because you hate what you see, but [it’s] the opportunity that’s always there to see something you didn’t know before. The other thing is the opportunity to write about it. Somebody gives me a free ticket, I get to say what I think, and somebody pays me for it. What a racket! And the other advantage is that it has given me the opportunity from time to time to work with artists or to work with singers whose work I admire. Not so much to review them, but to work with them: to narrate a concert, or something of that sort. This interview has been edited and condensed.
As Bernardine Evaristo read in the rich voice of her protagonist, Barry, she transformed before the audience into a man internally torn between loyalty to his wife and becoming the man he knows he is inside. Yesterday evening, Evaristo read from her newest novel, “Mr Loverman,” which navigates themes of gender and sexuality through a mix of dry humor, vivid descriptions and catchy expressions. The story details the life of 74-year-old Barrington Jedidiah Walker, a closeted gay Caribbean man who has lived in London for 50 years. The text is told in two voices: Barry’s first-person narrative from 2010-11 and a second person narration directed at his religious wife Carmel, who has no idea that he is gay, over their loveless marriage. Evaristo said she aimed to create characters that defied stereotypes in order to tell a story that has never been written before. “There is hardly any black homosexual literature in Britain, especially not about an older man,” Evaristo said during a question and answer session following the reading. “I like to explore these themes from a perspective that you wouldn’t normally expect.” As she read, Evaristo adopted Barrington’s Antiguan and British accent, one that she said she modeled off a close friend of hers from Antigua. She highlighted the importance for writers of using their surroundings as inspiration. “In this novel, many of the characters’ expressions are ones that I have overheard in my everyday life,” Evaristo said. In the end, Evaristo said, her novel is about relationships. As a writer, she strives to know how people live, how they experience life, how they become what they are. Being a writer, she said, is “mad” because the writer begins to exist in someone else’s world. “When I was writing this story, the character began to take me over,” she said. English professor Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, who took advantage of the fact that the author was touring the Northeast, invited Evaristo to campus. “She is very well-known in Britain,” Gerzina said. “I think that it is wonderful to expand our knowledge of British literature here at Dartmouth.” Evaristo said she hopes that her tour will introduce more Americans to her work. Readings, she said,
help her share her story with a live audience. “Otherwise the only feedback I hear is from individuals and critics,” she said. Assistant admissions director Racquel Bernard ’13 said she came to the talk because she was curious about Caribbean literature. Chloe Jones ’16 attended the reading at her professor’s encouragement. “I was interested in hearing, from a creative writing perspective, how we can translate the black experience in literature,” Jones said. Other readings and talks by writers will take place this week as part of the creative writing department’s “Poetry and Prose series,” which brings authors and poets to read on campus each term. Snowden Wright ’04 and Diana Sabot Whitney ’95 will read Thursday. English professor Ernest Hebert, who invited Wright, said that the goal of the series is to expose Dartmouth students to published writers. “I, along with most people in the creative writing concentration, really believe in the oral tradition,” Hebert said. “When you read your work, there’s a kind of beauty to that.” Wright will read an excerpt from his 2013 novel, “Play Pretty Blues (The Life of Robert Johnson),” about mysterious Mississippi jazz musician Robert Johnson. The novel follows famous blues guitarist Johnson, who died at 27 and is said to have sold his soul to the devil. Wright said in an interview that he struggled to find an angle until he came across a theory that Johnson had multiple families and wives. He used this perspective to write the novel from the point of view of Johnson’s six wives, using the first person plural, a collective “we.” Hebert, who was Wright’s thesis advisor during his time at Dartmouth, said he knew that his student had the right “stuff ” to be a writer. “He was very serious about writing,” Hebert said. “One thing I’ve learned is that the people who give it their all are the people who end up publishing. You need to have a full-time commitment.” Whitney will read samples of her poetry. Herbert, who also taught Whitney at Dartmouth, remarked on the “magnetism” that surrounded both her writing and her personality. Wright and Whitney’s reading will take place Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Wren Room of Sanborn House.
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
PAGE 8
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
WEDNESDAY LINEUP
BASEBALL VS. HOLY CROSS 3 PM
SOFTBALL VS. BU 3 PM
Tennis teams both beat Cornell, fall to Columbia over weekend B y hayden aldredge The Dartmouth Staff
The men’s and women’s tennis teams went 1-1 over a packed weekend, each defeating Cornell University and falling to Columbia University. The No.
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40 men (14-5, 1-1 Ivy) hit the road for their matches, while the women (5-7, 1-1 Ivy) hosted the teams. The men beat the No. 52 Big Red (10-7, 0-3 Ivy) 4-2, before dropping the match against No. 17 Lions (16-1, 3-0 Ivy) 4-0. The women defeated Cornell (7-6, 0-3 Ivy) 6-1 at home on Friday, but fell 6-1 to No. 33 Columbia (14-2, 3-0) team on Saturday. The men’s match against Cornell opened with three hard fought doubles matches. Although the teams of Dovydas Sakinis ’16 and Brandon DeBot ’14 and Diego Pedraza ’17 and Chris
Kipouras ’15 both served for the match, only Sakinis and DeBot were able to come away with a victory. The Big Red came away with the lone doubles point, leading the Big Green 1-0 entering the singles matches. Dartmouth then took four of five completed matches for four points. Sakinis was the only Big Green player to drop a match, losing 7-6, 7-5. George Wall ’17 was the only Big Green player to not play in a tiebreaker, while Cameron Ghorbani ’14, Kipouras and DeBot fought through tough matchups to eventually defeat their opponents. Kipouras secured the overall victory for the Big Green with a dramatic third set tiebreaker victory at the number two position. After dropping the second set, Kipouras bounced back in the third to win 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7). It was a short-lived celebration for the Big Green, which then traveled to Columbia to play the Lions, a team Dartmouth lost to 4-3 in the February ECAC Indoor Championship in Hanover. The Lions pulled away this weekend for a 4-0 win. Columbia won the doubles point with two convincing victories at the number two and three spots. At the number one spot, Brendan Tannenbaum ’16 and Ghorbani were leading the seventh ranked doubles team in the nation 6-3 before doubles play was suspended. The match then proceeded quickly. Tannenbaum, Pedraza and DeBot all lost in straight sets. The rest of the
singles matches were left unfinished after Columbia reached the 4-0 mark. The matches opened League play for the Big Green men, who enjoyed success against non-conference opponents earlier this spring. “The Ivy League matches were what we expected,” Wall said. “They were at another level of play and competitiveness to our non-conference duals.” The team also stressed the importance of remembering that this is just the beginning of a long season. “Obviously we would have liked to have won both our matches this weekend,” DeBot said. “Despite the setback against Columbia, we still have everything to play for this season.” The women’s weekend started with a 6-1 victory over Cornell. The Big Green started the day with a dramatic doubles point win. After captain Melissa Matsuoka ’14 and Akiko Okuda ’15 defeated their opponents 8-5, Julienne Keong Si Ying ’16 and Suzy Tan ’16 won their tiebreaker 7-4 to secure the point for the Dartmouth women. Dartmouth won the first set on all six courts in singles play. Taylor Ng ’17 put in an impressive performance at the number two position, winning the second set in a tiebreaker. Katherine Yau ’16 won at the number one position in three sets. The only loss for the Big Green came after the overall victory was assured. Jacqueline Crawford ’17 suffered a tough three set loss at the third position, and the Dartmouth women won the remaining three matches in
straight sets. On Saturday, Dartmouth lost 6-1 to Columbia team in a tight match. After the Lions dominated doubles play, four of the six singles matches went into three sets. The lone point for the Big Green came from Okuda, who posted a three-set victory at number five. Ng battled senior Bianca Sanon, who was the ITA Northeast Regional Championship runner-up in both singles and doubles. The score for the dramatic match was 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4). “It was really great to play someone
that challenged us so much,” Ng said. “It definitely gave us a lot of confidence moving forward.” The men’s team will host the University of Pennsylvania this Saturday and No. 59 Princeton University on Sunday while the women hit the road to face the Quakers and the No. 69 Tigers. “Columbia and Cornell both had very aggressive crowds,” Tannenbaum said. “Something that definitely affected our matches. That’s exactly what we’re trying to emulate this weekend at home.”
KANG-CHUN CHENG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The women’s tennis team kicked off its spring Ivy season with a 1-1 weekend.
Golf teams finish in the middle of the pack to begin spring season
B y jake bayer
The Dartmouth Staff
The men’s and women’s golf teams hit the road last weekend for their first tournaments of the spring season. The women placed 11th out of 17 teams at the Seton Hall Pirate Invitational. The men traveled to Purchase, N.Y., for the Met Intercollegiate Tournament, where they finished sixth of eight teams. The women placed fifth among six Ancient Eight competitors while the men came in fourth of six. The Big Green women were led by Sarah Knapp ’14 and Jane Lee ’15, while the men demonstrated their depth, as underclassmen Dylan Rusk ’16 and Jeffrey Lang ’17 carded the lowest scores.
“We’re a lot better off this year than we’ve been in terms of depth,” men’s head coach Rich Parker said. The University of Georgia ran away with the Met Intercollegiate, defeating second place Yale University by 33 strokes. Georgia’s top golfer, sophomore Lee McCoy, scored a 135 despite unfavorable course conditions that included high winds and cold temperatures. Rusk shot matching 79s, good enough to tie for 18th, and Lang posted a combined 159, earning a tie for 22nd. The rest of the team was not far behind. Sean Fahey ’17 came home tied for 29th with a score of 161. Joe Maziar ’14 and Scott Jaster ’17 both shot a 162 for 34th place. Though two of the team’s best golfers — Charlie Cai ’16 and Charlie
Edler ’15 — did not compete, the Big Green fared relatively well, Parker said. The Big Green boasted some of the lowest variance in New York, as every Dartmouth golfer was within four strokes of each other. Parker said that he will have to whittle down the seven or eight potential golfers for the Ivy league Championship at the end of the short season. “On paper we are fourth or fifth best in the Ivies, and we’ll see,” he said. “My kids think they can do it, and I think we just need to build up for it, take it easy and work our way toward the target.” The women finished 11th at Seton Hall, 10 strokes behind 10th place Boston University and just two ahead of Bucknell University. The women
finished ahead of Brown University, but behind other Ivy League competition from Yale, Princeton University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. The weather was worse on day one of the tournament, meaning that most golfers were able to improve their scores on the second day. Bucking the general trend, Lee went into the clubhouse after the first day tied for sixth with a 78, but carded an 85 and fell to tie for 24th the second day. Knapp overtook Lee on Sunday to share 11th, after she followed up her first-round 80 with a 78. Tara Simmons ’17 shot a 175 to place 60th overall. Lily Morrison ’16 bounced back from a 101 on Saturday to card an 84 and move up to 81st. Kathryn Kennedy ’14 rounded out the Big Green with
an 86th place finish. “It was an awesome venue, a great golf course, but Mother Nature was in control,” women’s head coach Alex Kirk said. “It was a very cold and a very windy day. The whole field’s scores were kind of high. Sometimes a bogey was a good score.” Location constraints in Hanover, where the team has been practicing in Leverone Field House, have limited golfers’ ability to practice certain shots. “It’s tough to convert form where you can’t see where the shot is going to playing on a course,” Simmons said. The teams hit the road again next weekend. The men will take part in the Princeton Invitational and the women take to the links in Barrington. R.I., for the Brown Invitational.