VOL. CLXXI NO. 16
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2014
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Fall alcohol data show modest incident declines
MOSTLY SUNNY HIGH 15 LOW -3
By SARA MCGAHAN
Between fall 2012 and fall 2013, the proportion of alcohol incidents involving first-year students decreased from 49 to 46 percent of all incidents, according to data released Monday by the Dartmouth College Health Improvement Program and the Greek Leadership Council. During that time period, the overall number of incidents of intoxicated undergraduate students handled by Safety and Security dropped approximately 16 percent, from 99 incidents in fall 2012 to 83 in fall 2013. This shows a con-
BASKETBALL TEAMS FALL TO HARVARD PAGE 8
Many applaud federal focus on campus sexual violence
B y SERA KWON OPINION
LOOK OUTSIDE OURSELVES PAGE 4
NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE PAGE 4
ARTS
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: NICK O’LEARY ’14 PAGE 7
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SPORTS
The Dartmouth Staff
President Barack Obama announced the creation of a White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault on Jan. 22, giving the group 90 days to submit recommendations for a coordinated federal response to campus rape and sexual assault. Students and community members supported the move, but they were not confident that it would directly influence College policies.
Task force objectives include strengthening higher education institutions’ federal enforcement efforts concerning rape and sexual assault and broadening public awareness of institutional compliance with legal obligations. Many interviewed said they thought that the publicity generated by the task force would support institutions grappling with sexual violence response and prevention. “For President Obama to place this as a priority and publicly state
that it’s something that needs to be dealt with at every college and that there needs to be support for survivors and activists and students, that’s very important,” said Holli Weed ’14, a Mentor Against Violence and Sexual Abuse Peer Advisor. Weed said Dartmouth already has several initiatives that address the White House’s goals, including bystander intervention programs. Occidental College professor Caroline Heldman, co-founder of End Rape on Campus and lead complain-
Students visit New York on Programming Board trip B y ELIZABETH SMITH
While in New York on a Programming Board trip this weekend, Rebecca Burten ’16 asked a stranger in Times Square to take a picture of her and her friend, and he unexpectedly asked her to videotape his marriage proposal. The moment surpassed the sightseeing and tourist attractions that composed the rest of the weekend, said Burten, who spent the rest of the trip shopping, dining and visiting the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. For $60 each, 50 students traveled to New York City over the weekend to go sightseeing, visit family and enjoy a variety of cuisines. Spots for the trip filled up in under a minute. Programming Board organizes trips to help students travel out of Hanover, Programming Board executive director Caroline Steffen ’14 said in an email. Accommodations and transportation
SEE NYC PAGE 5
ant in the Title IX complaint against Occidental, said the task force is more than a symbolic gesture. Instead, it shows a watershed moment. “What is happening now is historic,” Heldman said. “We’ve never seen this level of activity — public complaints, protests, filing group or single lawsuits — we’ve never seen this level of action since campus action against rape started, and we’ve never had this level of response from the SEE OBAMA PAGE 3
FAKE IT ’TIL YOU BAKE IT
SHARON CHO/THE DARTMOUTH
Freshmen participate in a new Rockefeller Center program.