The Dartmouth newspaper 4/29/15

Page 1

VOL. CLXXII NO. 70

CLOUDY

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

IFC president Gilmore steps down,Macomber will replace

THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY

HIGH 63 LOW 41

By PARKER RICHARDS The Dartmouth Staff

CHERRY HUANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

SPORTS

SOFTBALL WILL PLAY PENN FOR IVY TITLE PAGE 8

OPINION

SMITH: FOOD, FUN AND COMMUNITY PAGE 4

ARTS

LANDSCAPING BRINGS AESTHETIC VALUE PAGE 7

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The Digital Arts Workshop shocases student artwork incorporating digital and technological advancements.

Campus reacts to academic proposals B y NOAH GOLDSTEIN The Dartmouth Staff

In the wake of Monday’s meeting of the faculty of arts and sciences, faculty and students expressed mixed sentiments about possible changes to distributive requirements, grade inflation and course schedule changes. These pro-

posals come following calls to increase “academic rigor” by College President Phil Hanlon as a part of his “Moving Dartmouth Forward” policy initiative. These proposed ideas will potentially be put to a vote at the next faculty meeting on June 1.In the meeting, dean of the faculty Michael Mastand-

uno proposed a reexamination of the of the current distributive requirements to make them more flexible. In an interview following the meeting, Mastuanduno referenced the system prior to 1992, when students were required to take three courses each in social sciences, SEE ACADEMICS PAGE 2

Sam Macomber ’16 will take over as Interfraternity Council president following a vote by IFC members and fraternity presidents on Tuesday night, according to a statement released by the IFC. He will replace Chase Gilmore ’16, who chose to step down following the derecognition of Alpha Delta fraternity, of which he was a member. AD was derecognized as a student organization by the Organizational Adjudication Committee in relation to the branding of new members last fall while the fraternity was under suspension. Gilmore, who wrote in an email that he supports Macomber’s election, will continue to serve the IFC in an advisory capacity and attend meetings. Macomber, a member of Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, served as IFC’s treasurer for the first four weeks of spring term. “I have the utmost confidence in his ability to steer the fraternity system on the right course and to leave the system better than he found it,” Gilmore wrote of Macomber’s election. A full story will run in tomorrow’s edition of The Dartmouth.

WestWheelock area Ross Virginia hopes to increase may see zoning changes awareness of Arctic, climate issues B y PARKER RICHARDS The Dartmouth Staff

West Wheelock Street could play host to a denser, more walkable neighborhood of residential space if a zoning ordinance is approved at Hanover’s town meeting next month, town officials said. The proposed change to the zoning ordinance would replace the current general residence zoning with the “West Wheelock Gateway District” — a denser neighborhood with easy access to both

downtown Hanover and Dartmouth’s campus, according to Hanover planning documents. “The whole point of doing the new district is to allow increased density to provide an incentive for people to reinvest in their properties and to redevelop their properties,” Hanover’s senior planner Vicki Smith said. “It’s really up to landowners to decide if they want to do that.” The gateway district, which

SEE ZONING PAGE 3

By HANNAH HYE MIN CHUNG The Dartmouth Staff

Environmental studies professor Ross Virginiaunexpectedly celebrated the birthday of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia while in Greenland conducting fieldwork with graduate students, environmental studies professor Matt Ayres said. Ayres said that Virginia connected the Grateful Dead with his academic motto, noting the band was the first “open-source rock’ n roll band” and that those involved with science must in-

creasingly bring “that sense of community spirit” to their work. Virginia, who began work at the College in 1992 as a chair of the environmental studies program, said his initial academic interests focused on the ecosystem’s response to climate change. Ross looked at the effect of various organisms on soil’s nutrient cycle. He conducted his fieldwork in hot deserts in the southwestern United States and in Alaska’s Arctic tundra. While studying which elements of soil determine which organisms can live, Virginia

said he became interested in ecosystems with soil but without plants. Upon hearing this, one of his colleagues recommended he look at Antarctica. Since then, Virginia’s academic focus shifted to cold and icy regions, and he spent two years in Antarctica from 1989 to 1990. Virginia said that 2007, the International Polar Year, was a landmark year for him because he began conceiving ways to apply academic knowledge to SEE VIRGINIA PAGE 5


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