Mirror Survey 09/19/14

2// MIRROR

EDITOR’S NOTE

The Results are In...

2018 1%

Graduating Year

2017 27%

Last weekend, we sent a 51-question survey to 2,827 undergraduates, who offered their thoughts on the state of the College, tidbits about their personal lives and more. Here’s a look at the 284 students who shared their insights with us. (As a bonus, we included some of the responses they wrote in.)

2015 35%

Courtesy of Erin Landau

2016 37%

Hi guys! Remember me? It’s been a while. Emma and Jasmine are off doing big things, and I’ve been (re)charged with the job of providing you with your weekly dose of campus culture.

But weirdly enough, I’ve got nothing to say. How is it that I’m starting my last year at this institution and can’t produce a single nugget of wisdom to share? Thankfully I’ve got a team of talented writers, and even all of you survey-takers, to do the sharing for me. First and foremost, let’s all give a warm welcome to AP’15 (you might know him from “Pigeons of Boston”) and Marian Lurio ’15 (a seasoned Mirror pro), our senior columnists for the 2014-15 year. Both of them have plenty of writing experience and fantastic senses of humor, so I’m confident in saying that all potential reader needs will be taken care of.

Second, as you’ll soon see, this week’s edition is a little different. If you’ve checked blitz in the past few days, you’d see the massive and semi-exhaustive survey blitzed out to students and faculty covering topics ranging from cheating to sex to marijuana legalization to satisfaction with the Greek system. It is certainly not reflective of all students on campus, but we were able to manage around a 10-percent response rate (which, as those of you who have taken stats at Dartmouth know, is pretty good for a survey with more than 50 questions.) You can read all the juicy tidbits inside, but it’s time to learn a little bit about me.

Now that I’ve taken a grand total of two statistics class periods, it’s safe to say I can share some nominal stats about the way I spend my time — 50 percent is spent working from my bed, 25 percent is spent placing orders to Jewel of India from Robinson Hall, 15 percent is spent calling my slumlord landlord about plumbing issues and the final 10 percent is spent crying about the looming reality of my jobless future. I hope you find the way I, and 280 other Dartmouth students, spend time interesting enough to enjoy the many firsts The Mirror has to offer.

Gender

Gender queer 1%

“I like men.”

Female 45%

Sexual Orientation

Other No Answer Queer 5% 6% Asexual 1% 1% Bisexual 2%

Male 52%

“Panromantic asexual.”

Gay 4% Straight 81% “Bicurious.”

“I love Jesus.”

“A little less than straight.”

Top 6 Religious Identifications Interdisciplinary Studies 6%

follow @thedmirror

No Answer

Undecided 5%

Atheist

Major

MIRROR R

Agnostic Jewish None

Humanities 18%

MIRROR EDITOR ERIN LANDAU EDITOR-IN-CHIEF LINDSAY ELLIS

Social Sciences 48%

Christian Catholic 0

Sciences 23%

PUBLISHER CARLA LARIN EXECUTIVE EDITORS MICHAEL RIORDAN STEPHANIE McFEETERS

10

20

30

40

50

“Christian lite.”

2% 0%

Greens

No answer

7%

Multiracial

1%

Political Affiliation

No answer Democrat

Libertarians

Middle Eastern or Arab American

Independent

Do not know/ Indifferent

8%

Native American South Asian or Indian American

11%

Latino or Hispanic American

Republicans

East Asian or Asian American Black or African American

23%

Non-Hispanic White or European American

Independents 20

40

60

80 100 120 140 160 180 200

60

“Ehh, idk.”

*Double majors counted twice

Race

0

No Answer 2%

Republican

48% Democrats

Do not know/Indifferent Libertarian Green None No answer

70

4// MIRROR

14.7%

At , the ’16s were the least supportive of the sit in. ’15s, ’17s and ’18s were all close to a 23% approval rate.

ACADEMICS

For the surveys, we contacted 411 faculty, of whom 39 responded, and 2,827 students, of whom 284 responded. Because the sample sizes are not representative, we did not calculate statistical significance for either the faculty survey or student survey, both of which were sent via email last weekend.

Responses were considered through Wednesday.

Classwork vs. Extracurriculars No answer 2%

Extracurriculars Classwork

How many layups have you taken each year?

Have you ever used a study drug?

2 28%

Yes

How many sexual partners have you had at Dartmouth?

No answer 7%

0 32% 1 16%

Have you cheated on schoolwork?

Yes 7%

n/a 2%

4 5% 3 9%

No

86%

Have you had sex in the past year?

5+ 18%

14%

0 27%

1 30%

No 87%

Love and sex

58%

4 5 1% 1% 3 13%

Do you ever fe endangered at Da your identity

2 13%

No answer 1%

No 36%

Yes 63%

4 1% 5 1%

3 6% 2 16%

0 42%

No 91%

1 34%

Male- and female- identified participants averaged close to the same number of sexual partners at Dartmouth:

2.47 for women and 2.85 for men.

?

40%

55.1% of unaffiliated people disapp 71.4% of affiliated people disappro

THE

St

Those who identified as s of heterosexual/straight who used the specific t were almost uniformly a “Freedom Budget” s

MIRROR //5

30.4% of those who are not

prove of the “Freedom Budget” sit in.

affiliated don’t drink.

7.1% of those who are affiliated

ove of the “Freedom Budget” sit in.

also don’t drink.

expectations

eel threatened or artmouth because of or background?

Is Dartmouth what you expected?

Phil Hanlon Approval Yes 13%

Have you sought out mental health counseling while at Dartmouth?

Disapprove No opinion 8%

o %

No opinion Disapprove 32%

No 46%

Approve 60%

No opinion 16%

Approve 20%

Yes 26% No 74%

"Freedom Budget" Approval No answer 0%

Yes 54%

Would you approve or disapprove of a plan to abolish the Greek system?

Was Dartmouth your first choice?

No answer 0%

No answer 0% No opinion 10%

Disapprove 64%

Approve 26%

Disapprove 64%

No 36%

Yes 64%

Campus life

tate of the College?

E

some form t and those term gay against the sit in.

Data analyzed by Noah Bogdonoff

54.5% of female-identified and 39.7% of male-identified respondents said they were Democrats. Male-identified participants were also 6% more likely to identify as Republicans and 5.7% more likely to identify as Independents.

ERIN O’NEIL // THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

MIRROR //3

Trending

Faculty Reflections story

B y Luke McCann and Victoria Nelsen

Disapprove 8%

No answer 2%

opinion 5% “

No opinion 49% Approve 41%

D @ RTMOUTH

Have you given students an undeserved grade?

No

Phil Hanlon Approval

”

Freedom Budget Sit In Approval

No answer 5%

Yes 39%

No opinion 26%

Freshman freeze

No 56%

Disapprove 43%

YiK Yak

Approve 26%

Do you believe the Greek system will undergo an overhaul in the next 3 years?

No answer asnwer No 5% opinion 13%

Maybe we’re just old, but this app is too much.

Perceived Relationship Between Faculty and Administration No answer

Ill Fayze

Very bad

An ’18 told us his rap battle at Sig Ep was the party of the century.

Very good

No 44%

Bad

Neutral

Yes 38%

Good 0

For decades, Dartmouth’s faculty have been invested in the wellness of their students, both inside and outside of the classroom — with the small community at the College, separating the two is almost impossible. A 32-question Mirror survey allowed faculty to reflect on the current state of the College, and the results reveal that discussions about major issues are far from finished.

We contacted 411 faculty members with this survey, and 39 submitted their answers to questions, ranging from the frequency of cheating to overhauling the Greek system. Of those respondents, 70 percent indicated that they would approve of abolishing the Greek system.

Celia Chen ’78, a biology professor, falls in the majority of faculty members who believes the system should be abolished. She said that the Greek system may harm admissions, as the high percentage of involvement may cause prospective students to assume that participation in the Greek scene is a prerequisite for having an enjoyable social life.

While the antics of Dartmouth fraternities and sororities have received substantial media attention lately, Chen said these issues are not new developments.

“This has been a problem since I was an undergrad,” she said. “The unacceptable behaviors that go on in a lot of fraternities are a real worry.”

The relationship between the Dartmouth faculty and the Greek system has historically been a tumultuous one, sparking decades of debate over the ef-

fects of Greek life on the academic and social lives of students. Faculty made their opinions on the matter clear in 1978, when they voted 67-16 in favor of abolishing the Greek system. Faculty once again voted for abolishment in three separate instances in the 1990s.

These moves, however, did not end the debate, and faculty members began to express their concern in more vocal ways. In 2001, 101 faculty members signed a letter decrying the “institutionalized practices of sexist and racist humiliation” that they alleged festered in campus Greek culture, the New York Times reported. In 2012, 105 faculty members issued a similar statement, in which they condemned the Greek system for operating against the College’s values.

Still, several faculty members oppose abolishing the Greek system.

“The faculty focus on getting rid of the Greek system is misguided,” math professor Dana Williams said. “I think the problem is a generic one across campus. At Dartmouth, the fraternities are the center of the social scene, so things are going to happen there.”

Williams acknowledged that his opinion on the issue places him in the minority among faculty. He said he foresees upcoming changes to the Greek system, especially because of the prominence of issues like binge drinking, sexual assault and diversity within the organizations.

Classics professor Paul Christesen also noted the importance of Greek life in the campus social scene.

“I think in the short term there’s no socially functional alternative, so

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a unilateral abolition would create a major complication,” he said. “I think for the foreseeable future, primarily having to do with the drinking age, something like the Greek scene is a necessity.”

Faculty members may hold various opinions on how to reform the Greek system, but math professor Carolyn Gordon said she believes that sexual assault is the biggest issue that Dartmouth faces, an opinion with which Williams and Chen both agreed (Chen also listed binge drinking and hazing).

Survey respondents also named sexual assault the most important issue facing Dartmouth today.

Aside from topics surrounding the Greek system, the survey also addressed issues of academic honesty, grade inflation and dedication to classwork.

When asked whether students dedicate more time to schoolwork or extracurricular activities, student and faculty responses differed. While a majority of students said they spend more time on classwork, faculty members said they expect students to prioritize extracurriculars (for student survey data and methodology, see pages 4 and 5).

Williams said he does not know what students spend more time doing, adding that a better question would ask if students spend an appropriate amount of time on classwork.

“I find it a little surprising that there’s a night during the week that would be considered a party night,” Williams said. “If students are partying fairly freely during the week, I don’t

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think they have enough work to do.”

Christesen suggested that the groups’ responses may differ because professors could use their own classes to gauge how much work students do.

“Typically, we only see a student in one class,” he said. “I think maybe we are simply projecting outward from the workload we assign individually, whereas students are handling three classes.”

Some faculty members — 11 of the 29 who expressed an opinion on the matter — also said that Dartmouth should change its name to Dartmouth University. Chen said that Dartmouth could change its name and still retain committed to high-quality undergraduate teaching.

Williams and Chen agreed that grade inflation is a common problem at Dartmouth and at colleges across the nation, and said that their classes’ medians match those of their respective departments. Williams’s grades are appropriate for the way that Dartmouth currently grades, he said.

He said that any pressure to give students higher grades is self-imposed, but that grade inflation is something Dartmouth must address as an institution.

“You can’t change grades unilaterally,” Williams said. “That would be grossly unfair. I like my students.

I see that they work hard, and that makes me want to give them grades that reflect that.”

LET there be brie KAF is staying forever.

Our DBA levels are not.

R.I.P. SALUBRE We hardly knew thee, but we heard that you had some decent breadsticks.

FIREWORKS ON THE GREEN auditions Sing your little hearts out, Class of 2018.