The Dartmouth Green Key Issue: Class and Money

CLASS AND MONEY 05.15.2015 Shuoqi Chen/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Editor’s Note

Friday, May 15, 2015

Table of Contents Experts and students discuss effects of socioeconomic class 3

WEIJIA TANG/The Dartmouth Staff

For this year’s Green Key issue, we chose to focus on class and money.

As students, we recognize that the College environment can artificially insulate students away from the grittier, often uncomfortable truths of the world that lie beyond this hill. But the current cultural momentum — a push toward recognizing social inequalities and privileges — penetrates even our Big Green bubble, and so we challenge our readers to reflect on these topics.

This type of note can hardly be complete without noting our own socioeconomic backgrounds. Michael, a sophomore from suburban Maryland, considers his financial background as upper-middle class. Rebecca, a sophomore from a coastal suburban Southern California city, identifies her socioeconomic class as upper-middle class as well. We recognize both the privilege of this background and the complexities buried beneath this label.

Class is often an invisible part of our identity and thus gets pushed to the fringes or completely out of our daily conversations. We urge our readers to reflect on the fact that every individual is made up of many parts — both visible and invisible. What we each struggle with, celebrate and value about ourselves does not all come across when we say hello to a peer in class or chat with a floormate from down the hall.

Class and money are enormous and complex issues that deserve millions of words written about them. With its page limitations, this paper can only capture small slices of the overall story. Nonetheless, we think this edition of The Dartmouth comes at a salient moment. In it, you will find a deeper exploration into a sometimes-invisible identity and a chance to reflect on the complexities of your own identities. We hope you enjoy this issue.

Thank you,

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REBECCA ASOULIN, Issue Editor MICHAEL QIAN, Issue Editor KATIE MCKAY, Editor-in-Chief JESSICA AVITABILE, Executive Editor

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LAURA WEISS, Managing Editor SEAN CONNOLLY, Managing Editor PRODUCTION EDITORS EMILY ALBRECHT, Opinion Editor CARSON HELE, Opinion Editor MADDIE BROWN, Mirror Editor CHARLIE RAFKIN, Mirror Editor HENRY ARNDT, Sports Editor JOE CLYNE, Sports Editor KATIE JARRETT, Assistant Sports Editor JOSHUA KOENIG, Arts Editor AMELIA ROSCH, Arts Editor CHRIS LEECH, Dartbeat Editor

JASMINE SACHAR, Managing Editor BUSINESS DIRECTORS JASMINE XU, Finance & Strategy Director AMY CHANG, Finance & Strategy Director HAYDEN KARP-HECKER, Advertising Director ADDISON LEE, Advertising Director RACHEL DECHIARA, Advertising Director NOAH GRASS, Operations & Marketing Director KATHERINE HEALY, Design Director ELIZABETH MCNALLY, Design Director ROBERT NEUHAUS, Technology Director

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ISSUE

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COPY EDITOR: Allie Fudge.

Financial aid and admissions

4

Greek organizations and financial accessibility

5

Institutional support and student groups

6

Undergraduate Finance Committee

7

Photo essay: student employees

8

O’Donoghue: Deserving More from DDS

10

Peters: Being Poor at Dartmouth

10

Student employee profiles

11

Student survey on class and money

12

Careers after Dartmouth

20

Ivy League athletics

21

The invisibility of class

23

Cheng: Through the Looking Glass

24

The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

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Experts and students discuss effects of socioeconomic status

B y ESTEPHENIE AQUINO and KELSEY FLOWER The Dartmouth Staff

A recent increase in the national dialogue regarding socioeconomic class offers common themes on the experiences of college students from traditionally underrepresented socioeconomic backgrounds, but does not always reflect the individual complexities expressed by students interviewed by The Dartmouth.

Sociology professor Janice McCabe, whose work focuses on educational inequalities, said that socioeconomic class affects students even before they get to college, as it often influences to which type of colleges they apply, gain entrance and ultimately can attend.

“There’s more of a perception that a public university is for everyone, whereas there is a perception that more elite colleges have more socioeconomically advanced students,” McCabe said. “That leads to a perception among students of more disadvantaged backgrounds that there isn’t a place for them.”

Cecilia Torres ’18 credited her smooth transition to Dartmouth to various on-campus resources including Dartmouth Quest Scholars and First-Year Student Enrichment

Program. Torres, a QuestBridge scholar and the social chair for DQS, said that without these organizations she would not have “adapted to Dartmouth as easily.”

“More disadvantaged students often feel invisbile on campuses regardless of whether you are talking about more elite campuses or large research universities.”

-janice mccabe, sociology professor DQS is the campus extension of QuestBridge, an organization that helps high-achieving, low-income students as they apply to college.

Cesar Rufino ’18, another QuestBridge Scholar, said that every individual from an underrepresented socioeconomic background at a higher education institution has a unique situation and story.

“‘Underrepresented’ and ‘underprivileged’ serve as an umbrella term,” Rufino said. “Not everyone who falls under this category necessarily goes through the same struggles.”

The often-messy financial aid process can exacerbate a student’s college application efforts, McCabe said, because students who do not know what type of aid package they will receive may not know to which institutions they can apply.

Socioeconomic status continues to affect student experiences once individuals matriculate, she added.

“More disadvantaged students often feel invisible on campuses regardless of whether you are talking about more elite campuses or large research universities,” McCabe said.

McCabe does research on student friendship networks and how they affect student experience on college campuses. She has found that often class is hidden, even among friends, and that can be a barrier for low-income students.

Both Torres and Rufino said that they experienced a culture shock when classes first began in the fall term.

Torres said that she attended a public high school in Dallas, Texas,

prior to attending Dartmouth. At her high school, the majority of people in the community identified as members of the lower-middle class.

“Talking about socioeconomic

“‘Underrepresented’ and ‘underprivileged’ serve as an umbrella term. Not everyone who falls under this category necessarily goes through the same struggles.”

-Cesar Rufino ’18, a questbridge scholar

issues or status was common because we all knew that we came from similar backgrounds, so it was easy to talk about it,” Torres said.

Both Torres and Rufino said that they eagerly share their stories with the Dartmouth community because they want to inspire conversation that promotes the diversity in socioeconomic experiences on campus.

Still, McCabe noted that “there are identity pressures to fit in,” which could lead to “ill ease rather than social belonging.”

A crucial element of this issue is that class can often be a difficult subject to discuss, she said.

“Part of it is a stigma that if you are disadvantaged, there is something wrong with you,” McCabe said.

McCabe said that more open discussion on class background and inequality could help students realize the range of experiences of their peers. She noted the importance of educating oneself about structural disadvantages and patterns of inequality through academic courses or other means.

Rufino said that he chose to participate in the Dartmouth Class Confessions project, a campaign that aims to increase visibility of students from lower socioeconomic classes, because he wanted to address and debunk a misconception that low-income equates with underprivileged. He noted that although he attended a rigorous public high school and felt prepared for college, all students share the difficulty of transitioning to college SEE EXPERTS PAGE GK15

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

Family situations, outside support affect financial aid B y EMILIA BALDWIN The Dartmouth Staff

Although 15 percent of the College’s undergraduates receive need-based financial aid, students’ experiences with aid — shaped by unique circumstances — still vary.

Ilenna Jones ’15, a Dartmouth Quest Scholars liaison, said she has had a straightforward experience with financial aid. She said that this is due to the fact that Erin Clark, senior assistant director of the financial aid office, acts as the point person for Quest Scholars.

“It’s been easy for me because we have additional resources,” she said.

Meredith Alaback ’18, however, said she did not anticipate the day-to-day process of working with the financial aid office to be as complicated as it turned out to be. Alaback said that having divorced parents who make considerably different incomes upsets the process.

While the financial aid handbook states that both parents will be evaluated separately to determine individual contributions, Alaback said that, in her experience, the financial aid office has

not been accommodating to her family’s situation.

“I didn’t think it would be such an issue going into the process,” she said.

Alaback’s mother, a stay-athome mom until her divorce, began working out of the house eight years ago, Alaback said.

“My mom’s sort of starting out all over again,” Alaback said.

“She’s in the place most people are when they’re 25.”

After working several jobs, her mother finally started her own therapy practice three years ago.

Alaback said that her mother finances her private practice out of pocket, paying for the upkeep of the building where she works.

“My mom spends a lot of money just maintaining her practice,” she said.

Despite the difference between her mother and father’s incomes, the financial aid office requires both to pay equal amounts, she said.

“My mom has called financial aid several times, and they haven’t been very accommodating of her request to change the amount of tuition she pays,” Alaback said.

She noted that she is lucky to have parents who are cordial with

one another, because the complexity of the financial aid process would be further confounded without parental communication.

“I can’t imagine what it must be like for families with parents who can’t even be in the same room,” she said.

Virginia Hazen, dean of financial aid at the College, said that the office has limitations to how much they can act as an “intermediary” between parents.

She noted that non-custodial parents usually present the most difficulties in terms of completing forms and being cooperative.

“We don’t assume a good relationship between parents,” Hazen said. “When parents get divorced, they divorce each other, not the kid, so it’s really not up to us to assume that sort of thing.”

Hazen said that ultimately the responsibility falls on the students to ensure parents are on top of providing forms and information to the office.

She said that the office must assess the finances of both parents, even though that often complicates the process. Hazen said that, to be fair to all students applying for financial aid, each individual must include tax returns that represent

their complete financial resources.

In the case of divorced parents, this means that both parents must be involved in the process, she said.

“It’s not really up to us to figure out that arrangement,” Hazen said. “We can help by talking to the parents, but that’s out of our hands.”

She said that she regrets not looking at the financial aid package offered to her by Columbia University. All institutions in the Ivy League have an agreement to match the most generous financial aid package given to the student.

Alaback added that she and her parents work for months to complete the various required financial aid forms, which include Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms as well as Dartmouth specific ones.

Hazen said that people often face difficulties completing the forms because they do not leave enough time to fill out the forms.

“We send the notice out in December or January, and I think people think, ‘Oh, I’ll get to it eventually,’ and they don’t start the process early enough,” Hazen said.

Hazen said that the financial aid office faces various problems each year.

This year, she said that parents were not able to upload documents after the office transitioned to a new online service. The office ended up receiving many poor quality documents, and the service did not communicate to parents that documents had been successfully uploaded, Hazen said. As a result, some parents submitted documents multiple times.

While Jones said that she had an

easy experience with the financial aid component, she thinks that the College could do more to help integrate students of lower socioeconomic class, especially in the classroom. Jones, a neuroscience major on the pre-medical track, said that teachers often assume students come from “good high schools.”

“Especially in STEM classes, there’s an assumption that you took [Advanced Placement] chemistry or physics, and professors sometimes don’t realize that not everyone went to a high school that offered APs or the IB curriculum,” she said.

She noted that many initiatives to help integrate low-income students are fairly recent and that she suspects institutional support is higher than when she matriculated at the College.

Paul Sunde, director of admissions at the College, said that the admissions office encourages students of low-income backgrounds to apply to Dartmouth.

“Whether it be by on campus programs like QuestBridge, or by admissions officers going to schools in low-income areas, every admissions officer takes out time to get these kids to think about applying to a place like Dartmouth,” he said.

Sunde said that the College pays for low-income, high-performing high school students to come to Hanover through the Dartmouth Bound program.

Alaback said that ultimately she is grateful for the aid given to her by the College.

“I probably wouldn’t be able to attend this school without the aid they’ve given me,” she said.

The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

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Greek organizations expand financial aid, discuss inclusivity

By PARKER RICHARDS

do not assume my socioeconomic status.”

Membership costs at Greek Average dues for affiliated stu- houses vary dramatically. While dents were over $300 for both men the Greek Letter Organizations and and women in the fall of 2014. Societies office does not provide a While the number may seem small per-house breakdown for fraternicompared to the $67,044 net cost ties or gender-inclusive houses, it of Dartmouth, it poses a financial does for sororities. The data, current burden for many students. from winter 2013, shows a range in In recent years, both student cost of dues from $235 at Epsilon groups and administrators have Kappa Theta to $395 at Alpha Xi placed increased pressure on Greek Delta. Across houses, dues for the organizations to provide financial first time of affiliation, known as aid for members. The “Greek new member dues, are the most Proposal” released last November expensive. included a stateAlpha ment of comPhi sorority has “We exist in the mitment from dues of $300 for Greek organiza- sorority. We exist in each full memtions to increase the Greek system. We ber and $586.41 financial inclufor each new exist at Dartmouth. sivity. member; Alpha Campus dia- Please do not assume Xi Delta sororlogue has also ity, $395 for full my socioeconomic begun to focus members and more on issues status.” $635 for new related to sociomembers; Delta economic class.

Delta Delta soD a r t m o u t h -ANONYMOUS, FROM rority, $295 and Class Confes- DARTMOUTH CLASS $550; Epsilon sions, a FaceKappa Theta CONFESSIONS book page creatsorority, $235 ed in early May, and $335, with describes itself second and as “an open space for students of third term member dues set at $310 all socioeconomic backgrounds to to $325; Kappa Delta sorority has share their campus experiences.” dues of $310 for fall term, $262 for The page’s second post – on winter term, $325 for spring term, May 3 – detailed the story of an $250 for summer term and $425 anonymous woman who went in- for new member dues; Kappa Delta active in her sorority for financial Epsilon sorority has dues of $330 reasons, which a fellow member of for full members and $380 for new her sorority claimed was “never” a members; Kappa Kappa Gamma factor in members’ decisions to go sorority, $250 for full members and inactive. $647 for new members; and Sigma “We exist in the sorority. We Delta sorority, $325 for full members exist in the Greek system. We exist and $365 for new members. at Dartmouth,” she wrote. “Please New member dues at local soThe Dartmouth Staff

“Do you believe economic-based discrimination is present in the Greek system?”

MICHAEL QIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Data for this graph were taken from 696 responses to a survey sent out by The Dartmouth from May 4 to 8.

rorities – EKT, KDE and Sigma Delt – are substantially lower than those of national sororities, but the full member dues are comparable at each set of houses.

Panhellenic Council vice president for public relations Allison Chou ’17 said that Panhell has committed itself to meeting 100 percent of the demonstrated financial need of members, up from the current 80 percent of need that is met.

“I can’t say how major of a factor [financial barriers to membership] are, but Panhell recognizes it as a potential barrier for women who would like to join the Panhellenic community,” she said, adding that the group strives to maximize financial inclusivity.

Chou said that Panhell is set to open a fund that can be used to support the individual financial aid programs of member houses and potentially receive donations from alumni to support current students.

The fund would initially be set up through the College, she said.

“The very existence of such a fund would, we hope, contribute to outside donors contributing their own donations to the fund which, we would hope, would relieve any financial strain that might place on Panhell or the houses themselves,” she said.

Chou said that the “gears [are] moving” for the fund to be set up by the fall term, but added that its launch depends upon external factors outside of Panhell’s control.

Panhell is not alone amongst Greek organizations on campus

in attempting to address issues of financial inclusivity. In the “Greek Proposal,” the Inter-Fraternity Council committed itself to eliminating the “working for dues” policies that had previously allowed members to pay off their dues through additional housework.

Additionally, the IFC committed 15 percent of the social and programming budgets of each house to financial aid.

“From a psychological perspective, we know that people want to belong to groups that help their social identity.”

-TODD HEATHERTON, PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR Economics professor Charles Wheelan, who is a member of the Class of 1988, said that he does not believe individual houses differ greatly in terms of socioeconomic demographics.

“You absolutely, positively do not want to have a situation where out-of-pocket spending is a screen for your social involvement on campus,” Wheelan said.

He also said that the fact that most Greek parties are open to cam-

pus helps to reduce socioeconomic burdens on students, since they can participate without paying costs.

“The Dartmouth Greek scene divides in lots of ways — some of which we may like, may not like — but I’ve certainly never seen it as something that exacerbates any existing social cleavage,” Wheelan said.

The Gender-Inclusive Greek Council already meets 100 percent of the need of its members through a unique optional dues system, GIGC president Veri di Suvero ’16 said.

“At every house, your dues are optional,” she said. “In that way, it gets at the socioeconomic inclusivity idea that people who don’t want to pay or can’t pay don’t pay.”

Members simply approach their house officers and request not to pay dues or a portion thereof, and all requests are granted.

Di Suvero said that the GIGC has more flexibility with financial aid since all of its members are local organizations, while both Panhell and the IFC have numerous national organizations as members.

“That’s a huge asset in letting us determine our own financial policies,” she said.

The policy has not harmed the solvency of GIGC houses, di Suvero said. Since the houses typically have fewer members, their costs are lower and they can make do without the full dues from each member, she said.

Todd Heatherton, a psychology professor, said that people tend to SEE GREEK PAGE GK19

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

Institutional support for low-income students is fairly recent

B y NOAH GOLDSTEIN and KATIE RAFTER The Dartmouth Staff

For Brenden Stinson ’17 the different socioeconomic worlds that exist outside of the College collide once he steps foot on campus.

Stinson said that many people are not aware of the potential impact that arriving at the College can have on students of lower socioeconomic class. These students often require more institutional support to help ease their transition.

“Some people don’t really understand it, or are not really aware of it, or are in such a beneficial position that they do not feel concerned by it,” he said. “When you’re in different classes, you live in different worlds, but when you’re here at Dartmouth, those worlds combine.”

Fifty-nine percent of students come from families with incomes of $200,000 or above, while the U.S. Census records that only six percent of U.S. families earn that level of income. Comparatively, 11 percent of the student body at Dartmouth comes from the bottom 40 percent of U.S. households.

Stinson serves as the treasurer of Dartmouth Quest Scholars, a group that serves as the campus

extension of QuestBridge. QuestBridge, a national organization that helps high-achieving low-income students as they apply for college, matches two or three students with the College and other partner institutions annually.

Emily Chan ’16, the co-director of DQS said that their aims go beyond just working with QuestBridge. Instead, the group seeks to increase socioeconomic awareness on campus through dinner discussions and other programming, she said.

The group, which focuses on raising awareness about classrelated issues, is inclusive to anyone on campus, Stinson said.

Beyond operating as a support group for Dartmouth QuestBridge finalists and scholars, the DQS chapter also acts as a support group for low-income students, Chan said.

Chan said that they seek to act as a support group for any low-income students, due to the lack of such organizations on campus. She noted that the First-Year Student Enrichment Program somewhat serves this function but does not work with the entire range of students from low-income backgrounds.

Associate dean of the College Elizabeth Agosto said she hopes

that programming for students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds increases. She said she expects both students and the Office of Pluralism and Leadership to work toward this goal, which will educate families about the financial aid process.

Agosto said there is always more that the College could do for students in need, but establishing a structure to meet such needs can be challenging.

Chan said that DQS hopes to implement a mentorship program to match incoming freshmen with upperclassmen at the College.

“Having socioeconomic diversity on campus and having more awareness of that is just another element that I think is very valuable for anybody’s learning experience on campus,” Chan said.

Stinson and Chan said that they want to focus on raising awareness for the widespread economic gap in the campus community, and also increase support for their group.

Some members of DQS recently launched a public Facebook page, Dartmouth Class Confessions, which features anonymous as well as open student testimonies about socioeconomic class on campus.

Stinson said that the College lacks accessible yet meaningful

“Have you ever been discriminated against or felt marginalized because of your economic status?”

discussions around issues relating to socioeconomic difference. He said that an event similar to Sex Signals, a “comical, yet logical and truthful” show about sexual assault held during freshmen orientation, could bring more understanding.

Agosto said that Dartmouth students often do not discuss issues

“Asking for financial help is challenging.

I know it was for me and I know it is for many of the students I work with.”

-ELIZABETH AGOSTO, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF THE COLLEGE

surrounding class and money, adding that the process of requesting financial aid can be difficult for students as it requires disclosing sensitive information.

“Asking for financial help is challenging,” she said. “I know it was for me, and I know it is for many of the students I work with.”

Stinson noted that DQS — recognized in 2011, when the first group of QuestBridge scholars matriculated — is about to graduate its first class, which will help develop an alumni network outside of the College.

Similarly, FYSEP director Jay Davis said that the group is currently collecting data from the first graduating FYSEP class — the class of 2014 — about post-graduation life. This initiative aims to foster a sense of community and create a larger network outside Dartmouth for first-generation students at the College.

Davis said FYSEP — a support group for first generation students — is designed to foster relationships between and among freshmen and upperclassmen mentors. FYSEP also helps students navigate available resources on campus and provides a sense of community to an underrepresented demographic, he said.

“FYSEP provides a very important sense of community and belong to a traditionally under represented population on Ivy League campuses,” Davis said.

Davis said that there is always more that FYSEP could be doing SEE SUPPORT PAGE GK18

“What percentage of students at Dartmouth do you think have experienced class- or economicbased discrimination?”

MICHAEL QIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Data for these graphs were compiled from the results of a survey sent out by The Dartmouth from May 4 to 8. The Dartmouth received 696 responses from students.

The Dartmouth

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Friday, May 15, 2015

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Undergraduate Finance Committee funding explained B y LAUREN BUDD

The Dartmouth Staff

The Undergraduate Finance Committee found itself at the center of campus discussion when it sanctioned Student Assembly in the fall for misuse of funds, but few students fully understand how the UFC works.

UFC sanctioned the Assembly in the fall after the group spent $1,876 of UFC allocated funds on customized apparel for 23 individuals and $966.28 on an invite-only lunch event, as well as a formal that was later cancelled.

In the Assembly presidential and vice presidential debate this April, both of the candidates for president discussed the role of the UFC and its relationship with SA. They also pointed out that most students do not understand exactly how this funding body works.

The UFC distributes funds to nine campus organizations: Collis Governing Board, Council on Class Officers, Council on Student Organizations, Elections Planning and Advisory Committee, Greek Leadership Council, Programming Board, Student Assembly, Special Programs and Events Committee and Green Key Society.

UFC’s budget comes from the student activities fee charged to each student’s tuition every term, currently an $83 charge, UFC chair Carolyn Parrish ’16 said. The fees are combined and allocated to the nine groups every spring. This year, the funds totalled up to $1.08 million, Parrish said.

Reilly Johnson ’16, Student Assembly press chair, said that the UFC allocated less money than previous years this term. The funds changed from a term to term budget to a lump sum for the 2014-2015 year. She said that this was likely a result of the budgetary problems the Assembly had faced in the past year.

UFC allocated $40,000 to the Assembly for the 2014-2015 year which was considerably less than the $70,500 the Assembly hads requested. In 2013-2014, the UFC allocated the Assembly $58,000, in 2012-2012, $69,500 and in 20112012, $76,250.

Overall, Parrish said each funded body tends to have a slight increase in funding per year as tuition, and thus the student activities fee, rises.

Increases in funding can also come when groups have significant new ideas or proposals for the next year, she said. The standard annual

increase in budget for each group, she said, is two or three percent.

Programming Board, due to the large-scale nature of its events, usually asks for the most money and the committee therefore allocates money to them last, Parrish said.

She said that it consistently uses its entire budget every year.

“We just want to make sure every group gets money proportional to

“Everyone on campus is watching you, all of these events are public, they’re student activities.”

-CAROLYN PARRISH ’16, UNDERGRADUATE FINANCE COMMITTEE its scope,” Parrish said. “And we have to ensure that every group is following the spirit of the student activities fee. The events have to be open to all of campus, they can’t be exclusive at all because the students are paying for it.”

Parrish said that though the review process for UFC funding is

strict, occasionally funds are misused. She cited the fall sanctioning of the Assembly, which she said was problematic because every student on campus essentially paid for apparel for a small number.

Johnson also noted that the Assembly’s new leadership will be “passionate” about making their expenditures public in order to avoid future claims of misallocation of funds. The Assembly also added a new role of vice treasurer in order to assist the treasurer to ensure the efficient management of funds.

Though Johnson said that the purchasing of the apparel was “in opposition to the spirit of the student activities fee,” the internal expenditure for Assembly gear was outlined in the budget and approved

by UFC at the time.

The UFC keeps historical records and is in contact with the College treasurer, which holds the groups requesting funds accountable, Parrish said.

“It’s very numerical, it’s very systematized, and everyone is expected to be very objective in their decision-making,” Parrish said.

Due to the nature of the organizations getting funds from the UFC, students on campus can also play a role in accountability, Parrish said.

“Everyone on campus is watch-

ing you, all of these events are public, they’re student activities,” Parrish said Every spring, representatives from the nine funded student organizations first meet with the UFC chair, before meeting with the committee to discuss their budgets, Parrish said. This year, she said the preliminary discussion was a daylong process in the form of a retreat held in the Collis Center, which she called essential.

She said that representatives present their proposals to the UFC chair two weeks prior to their first meeting. The chair, who serves as a moderator figure, audits the proposals and adds any comments.

Two UFC meetings this term are open to student organizations and designated for budget planning, Parrish said. While the first meeting is largely focused on policy questions directed at the entire group and individual leaders, the second meeting is when the budget is actually allocated, she said.

Chase Mertz ’16, a member of the Class of 2016 Class Council, who has sat in on UFC budgetary meetings, said that class council’s funding remains relatively consistent other than slight increases due SEE UFC PAGE GK16

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

Photo essay: A look at student employees around campus

ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

For many students, Collis Market serves as an on-campus supermarket. The store, still referred to by many students as “Topside,” stays open until 11 p.m.

“If you are employed, how many hours a week do you work?”

MICHAEL QIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Novack Café employee takes a student’s order. The café closes at 2 a.m.

Data for this graph were taken from 696 responses to a survey sent out by The Dartmouth from May 4 to May 8.

ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Student at desk of Baker-Berry library information desk. The library employs 225 students on average.

ELIZA MCDONOUGH/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Novack Café is known for its long rush hour lines and fast-paced service.

The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Eliza McDonough/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

A student works at the Collis Center Information desk. The Collis Center functions as a hub for student activity.

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

Guest Columnist GABRIELLE O’DONOGHUE ’17

STAFF Columnist WILLIAM PETERS ’15

Deserving More From DDS

Being Poor at Dartmouth

College meal plans are comparable to government food stamps.

One’s financial background significantly affects the Dartmouth experience.

There are few things on this campus that find it offensive that our institution deems it incite more animosity and complaints than appropriate to charge me food prices three Dartmouth Dining Services. As many of times higher than those found outside our us already know, good ol’ DDS is ripping little Hanover bubble. That real money, that us off — and not just a penny here and a money I spent time sacrificing study hours penny there. DDS makes millions in yearly and time with my friends to earn, could go profits, as recorded in auxiliary income re- toward many other worthy causes — such ports and by DDS direcor David Newlove’s as my tuition. unfortunate LinkedIn profile.

Although the school has been very gener Our current executive vice president and ous by covering the majority of my tuition, I chief financial officer Richard Mills, how- still need to work and take out loans to cover ever, said that the profits that DDS makes all my expenses. Being a student burdened are circulated back into the system to cover by these financial responsibilities tarnishes the other expenses that students cost the my Dartmouth experience with unnecessary College. We are, apparently, very expensive stress. If our administrators truly cared about to educate, feed and the well-being of all house. But does that the College’s students, justify exorbitant “I get roughly three times as they would consider food service prices? much on my SmartChoice 7 how the simple action meal plan to spend on food here of inflating the price of I think not.

As an experi- than I do on food stamps — yet, our meals causes many ment for a sociol- food at Dartmouth is almost negative downstream ogy class I took last three times more expensive. In effects for students year, I investigated simple terms, my meal plan at struggling with sociohow our meal plans economic issues.

Dartmouth — one of the most compared to the

Some may arreal world — that highly regarded institutions gue that they easily is, a world out- in the nation — is roughly end each term with side Dartmouth, equivalent to food stamps in the extra DBA in their acan elite Ivy League state of New Hampshire.” counts. I implore these institution. Using students to seriously the “SNAP”, or reflect on how they Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Pro- end up with that extra balance. Do they get gram eligibility tool online, I determined to go eat off campus often and enjoy some the amount of money I could get on food margaritas at Molly’s on a typical Friday stamps in the state of New Hampshire. night? Do they order EBAs when they are The algorithm asked how much my weekly too tired to walk to the dining hall? Do income was, how much money I had in their parents ship wonderful care packages my bank account, if I had a vehicle and if filled to the brim with goodies on which to I had any dependents or other expenses. snack? Many students who struggle with After truthfully filling out each question, financial issues do not have these luxuries the program’s website informed me that I of eating off campus or ordering food in. was eligible for $49 of weekly aid for my Many have parents who cannot afford to groceries. This amount of money might not mail them filling snacks they can munch seem like much, but wait and see. on in their rooms. Many students plagued My current meal plan, the “SmartChoice by socioeconomic difficulties must adhere 7,” amounts to roughly $140 a week for food to their meal plans and buy astonishingly on campus. Though this amount is nomi- expensive food every single day. We do not nally higher than the aid given by SNAP, have the luxury of eating out often and are the inflated prices through DDS cause it to therefore more likely to use all of our DBA, effectively be equivalent, if not less. At the or in some cases even go negative, thus owing West Lebanon Walmart, a Chobani Greek this institution even more money that many yogurt costs just one dollar, compared to of us just do not have. three dollars at the East Wheelock Snack Bar. Now let’s go back and review the math Being the bargain hunter I am, I compared here. I get roughly three times as much on food prices for 10 common items including a my SmartChoice 7 meal plan to spend on quart of milk, Vitaminwater, Lean Cuisine, food here than I do on food stamps — yet, Stouffer’s, strawberries and a few others on food at Dartmouth is almost three times campus to those at the local Walmart. The more expensive. In simple terms, my meal results are nauseating. On average, those 10 plan at Dartmouth — one of the most highly items are almost three times more expensive regarded institutions in the nation — is to purchase on campus than off. roughly equivalent to food stamps in the state Although to many students on this of New Hampshire. Should we as students campus, DBA is imaginary money their allow our administrators to offer programs parents willingly shell out to this school, no better than supplemental government some students — including myself — feel aids? We must demand more from DDS, and the burden of funding our meal plans. I pay they must finally begin to listen. Because I for all my college expenses myself, including don’t know about you, but I can’t keep up my meal plan. Every dollar I spend on it is with all of this academic rigor on an empty a real dollar that I worked hard to earn. I stomach.

Dartmouth is the most rewarding place I since I deployed to Iraq in 2006. When have ever been — and yet, also the strangest. talking with other students about the full I have met some of most brilliant minds and week off we have in October, they mention some of those same minds have been just visiting London, Paris, Barcelona, Florence as ignorant as they are intelligent. I do not and various other European cities. They mean to insult them, and I am not assigning encourage me to do the same — unless the blame. What I am getting at is that because English department is going to give me a the Ivy League has gone need-blind, there is couple grand to have a mini tour of Europe, now a significant mixing of class and culture however, I think that the farthest I will be on these campuses. This is by no means a exploring will be the Scottish Highlands or bad development, but I think it is time that Belfast. When I tell the other students this, we explore some perspective on the experi- they often look slightly confused, almost as ence of a poor student at Dartmouth. though it is a natural reflex to indulge as Arriving here from community college in much of a foreign adventure as possible.

2012, I was overwhelmed at first by the flair The truth is that while I am minding my and festivity of the Dartmouth Outing Club’s wallet, I will be also watching many of my First-Year Trips. Orientation consisted of peers go off to do so many of the things I speeding through the various services and wish I could. resources of the College while I was barely Money is a primary woe of many lowable to absorb most of the information. income students at the College. It is the Suddenly, classes began, and I quickly real- immediate consideration for anything we ized that I was drowning in the deep end. want to do — it has to be. Whether it is a My high school education was irrelevant non-profit program in the U.S. or another in the scheme of prestigious universities, country, an unpaid internship in a city that and community college was preparing me is not home or even an extra term, we need for the University of Massachusetts — not to stop and determine if we can actually Dartmouth College — and I soon began to afford it. question if I was adequate enough to even Internships are probably the worst of it. be a student here.

Unlike many other colleges, there is almost Looking back on this time, I realized that an expectation among peers to land an there was not just an academic difference, elite internship. Unless you are in finance but a social one as well — particularly when or consulting, chances are you are not getcomparing rich students lives’ to those of ting paid over your leave term. Yes, there poorer students. Speaking from personal are all sorts of funding opportunities that experience, my old streets of Everett, Mas- Dartmouth provides, but none of them are sachusetts, had probably never seen a per- guaranteed. Applying for internships while son walking in salmon shorts and Sperrys taking classes is enough of a stressor, but worboat shoes. From rying about whether multi-ethnic ur- “People would ask if I had or not we will actually ban neighborhoods rowed or played squash before get a grant to go work where most people Dartmouth, and I would answer, and survive in a new disliked or mistrustcity is another major ‘Poor people don’t do that.’ ed one another, challenge for many My first year at Dartmouth was I entered a tiny students. Personally, rural community marked by a hyper-awareness of I think it is appalling dominated by white my low-socioeconomic status.” that many of these inupper-class inditernships are unpaid. viduals. There was Students are pressured seemingly no such thing as a teen pregnancy, into finding money to live on to put a few most people had never gone to a funeral of lines on their resume and have few minutes anyone besides a grandparent and, aside of conversation with an employer. Bottom from the hockey team, most students have line, if for some reason we do not get the never even been in a fight. I did not under- funding from the school, students of lower stand students’ styles of dress, speech or their income are not in a position to get that sweet experiences. People would ask if I had rowed internship. or played squash before Dartmouth, and I There are dozens of other issues I could would answer, “Poor people don’t do that.” discuss related to being a low-income stuMy first year at Dartmouth was marked by a dent. Further, I think that since it is spring hyper-awareness of my low socioeconomic and many students are really beginning to status. think about their futures, it is appropriate That hyper-awareness of poorness is com- to point out the challenges. pounded by the things that your peers do that Administrators need to increase financial you cannot. Sometimes there is a feeling of aid for all parts of the Dartmouth experience, being left out, like when friends go on exotic and students need to be more cognizant of vacations during interim periods or when you their peers’ backgrounds. We are supposed need to refrain from spending money while to have the greatest opportunity of our lives studying abroad. Recently, I was accepted in coming here, but we still have some work into the English department’s foreign study to do in making it better for everyone — not program for this fall in Dublin. This will be just the students coming in from a place like the first time I will leave the United States Phillips Exeter Academy.

The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

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Students share stories of work and life at the College B y LAUra sim

Emily Chan ’16

Emily Chan ’16 divides her money — earned from multiple campus jobs — between necessities, tuition and recreational purposes.

“A lot of my friends like to go out and eat, so I can work for that,” Chan said. “It’s a little expensive here. I help out by paying a bit of my tuition, too. It’s just about making sure that I have money saved up for future things, like buying my ticket home and traveling on the [Dartmouth] Coach. It all adds up, so it’s nice to have money for these things.”

Chan, as the co-director of Dartmouth Quest Scholars, a group that focuses on issues related to class, recently launched a project called Dartmouth Class Confessions with Hui Cheng ’16. The project aims to raise awareness and dialogue around the unspoken experiences surrounding socioeconomic identity.

“With Class Confessions, the point is anyone can anonymously submit a one liner or two liner about how they feel about class on campus,” Chan said. “Something that is a little discouraging for me is that it turns off people who are upper- or middle-class, and they think they’re excluded from that. I wanted it to be for everyone, and I want everyone to feel comfortable sharing.”

For Chan, the subject of class first arose when she traveled abroad and could not engage in the same experiences as some of her peers, she said.

“You don’t realize something when you don’t know what to look for,” Chan said. “I first noticed when I was on my [language study abroad] with other people. They were really nice, of course, but you see the obvious differences — half the group could afford to do a lot more than you can. Money can actually be real constraint for a lot of people, and it was just interesting that I myself had been so ignorant about it. Then I couldn’t stop seeing or noticing.”

“You don’t realize something when you don’t know what to look for. I first noticed when I was on my [language study abroad] with other people. They were really nice, of course, but you see the obvious differences — half the group could afford to do a lot more than you can.

Money can actually be real constraint for a lot of people, and it was just interesting that I myself had been so ignorant about it. Then I couldn’t stop seeing or noticing.”

Feyaad Allie ’16

JEFFREY LEE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Between working at the front desk of the Alumni Gymnasium, conducting research for the government department and working as a tour guide and as an undergraduate advisor, Feyaad Allie ’16 has committed himself to becoming the Renaissance man of student employment.

But for Allie, working multiple jobs on campus does not necessarily detract from his studies.

“Some of my jobs are activities that I do on campus on anyway,” he said. “Then there are jobs like working in the gym, where I can do homework while working there. It doesn’t feel like I’m losing time.”

And where does this money go?

“I’d say that maybe 20 percent goes to some fun things, like dinner in town, or some activity,” Allie said. “I usually would spend another 30 percent on any necessities, like if I need to buy shampoo or school supplies, in addition to an expense like a [Dartmouth] Coach ticket. In other words, these are things that are small enough that I don’t go to my parents for. The rest of it goes to my savings.”

Ultimately, Allie said that student employees choose to work on campus for different reasons depending on their personal situations.

“Some people work because of work-study or they want to help support their education here, whereas other people work for spending money,” Allie said. “I have a decent amount of jobs on campus because it just happened, and it functions for both reasons.

For me, it is a combination of both.”

Gabriel Barrios ’15

JEFFREY LEE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

While on campus, Gabriel Barrios ‘15 has worked several jobs, ranging from the service industry to youth education, he said.

“I’ve kind of jumped around between jobs,” Barrios said. “I’ve had at least one every term, whether it’s working at the gallery, at BarHop, and then some off campus jobs, as well. I used to be a ‘student supervisor’ at White River School, which was basically me being an after-school teacher teaching drawing as a work-study job. I’ve also had odd, temp jobs.”

For Barrios, he said that class becomes most salient when working in service jobs like BarHop. “Nothing makes me more aware of other people’s class-related behaviors than the way that they interact with people who pick up after them or serve them,” he said.

Barrios said that other students who work in service note the same trends about student attitudes related to class, he said.

“I can kind of tell who’s more sensitive of the fact that service jobs are not necessarily a fun thing to do,” he said. “Conversations with other people made me more aware of that. It’s frustrating to be on the side of the person cleaning up.”

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The Dartmouth

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Student survey finds diverse opinions

Friday, May 15, 2015

The Dartmouth

Frequency of money-related stress by household income

GREEN KEY 2015

Estimation of percent upper-class by household income

Friday, May 15, 2015

The D Runs the Numbers:

61%

73%

58%

69%

Eat off campus 1-4 times a month

THE DARTMOUTH CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF 696 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. THE QUESTIONS

Do not shop in Hanover at all during a term

EXPLORED STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF CAMPUS CLASS DIVISIONS AND SALARY EXPECTATIONS AFTER

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Of students report it costs $10-$20 each time they eat off campus

Of student employees say their earnings cover all termly expenses

GRADUATION, AMONG OTHER TOPICS.

Self-reported socioeconomic class by household income

B y Erin lee The Dartmouth Staff As part of an exploration of socioeconomic status and class, The Dartmouth surveyed the College’s undergraduates on topics related to money.

More than 57 percent of the College’s undergraduates reported an annual household income of over $125,000, though only 23 percent considered themselves upper-class, according to the survey.

The survey was conducted online from May 4 to 8 and received 696 responses, with a roughly even distribution of respondents’ class years. Sampling was not random, as students elected to take the survey, and results do not necessarily represent the entire student population. Statistical analysis of comparisons of variables indicated high degrees of correlation, though causation cannot be proven.

The survey found that the majority of students come from high-income backgrounds, though most do not consider themselves to be upper-class.

About 53 percent of respondents reported their socioeconomic status as upper-middle class, 23 percent said they were lower-middle or lowerclass and 23 percent said they were upper-class. A survey of Harvard College’s graduating Class of 2014 conducted by the Harvard Crimson found similar results.

Only 30 percent of students accurately predict-

ed that 50 to 69 percent of College undergraduates come from upper-class backgrounds. The majority of respondents thought that less than 50 percent of students come from the upper class, which highlights a gap in students’ perceptions about what household income is considered upper class.

Based on survey results, the median household income for the College’s undergraduates is between $125,000 and $250,000. Fifty-nine percent of students come from families with incomes of $200,000 or above, while the U.S. Census records that only six percent of U.S. families earn that level of income. Comparatively, 11 percent of the student body at Dartmouth comes from the bottom 40 percent of U.S. household incomes.

According to a U.S. Census report, the national median household income in 2013 was $51,939.

Eighteen and a half percent of College students reported that their household income was more than $500,000. Seventy-seven respondents indicated that they did not know their household income.

In the 2013-2014 academic year, 47 percent of undergraduate students received financial aid from the College, a number consistent with previous years, according to the College Fact Book. Last year, the College awarded the most financial aid to date — a total of over $92.5 million in needbased financial aid through scholarships, loans and work-study.

A New York Times study found that the net

price of College tuition for low- to middle-income students is $4,900, the fourth lowest among the schools surveyed. This year, undergraduate tuition, fees and room and board was $61,947.

For the 2015-2016 academic year, tuition will increase by 2.9 percent, the lowest increase since 1977, and will amount to $63,744. Among the Ivy League institutions, Dartmouth’s tuition is increasing by the smallest percentage.

In the College’s 2014 senior survey, 70 percent of students reported that the impact of their student debt was moderate to considerable, while 13 percent of the seniors indicated the impact was severe.

Sixty-two percent of the College’s low-income students said that they are frequently stressed about money, compared to 19.2 percent of the overall sample of students surveyed. Sixty-nine percent of participants indicated that they work while on campus, with only five percent of all respondents reporting unpaid work. The majority of students with annual household incomes under $250,000 reported that they work. Ninety-three percent of those with annual family incomes under $40,000 said they have a job while on campus, compared to 82 percent of those between $40,000 and $79,999 and 83 percent of those in the $80,000 to $124,999 bracket.

In response to a question asking about how often participants experienced economic or classbased discrimination, only five percent indicated

“

Based on survey results, the median household income for the College’s

undergraduates is between $125,000 and $250,000. According to a US Census Bureau report, the national median household income in 2013 was $51,939. Eighteen and a half percent of College students reported that their household income was more than $500,000. Seventy-seven respondents indicated that they did not know their household income.

MICHAEL QIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

“frequently.” Twenty-seven percent responded with “sometimes,” 35 percent responded with “rarely” and 33 percent responded with “never.”

Similarly, when asked whether economic discrimination is present in the Greek system, the majority of respondents answered with either “disagree” or “strongly disagree.”

Overall, almost 58 percent of participants were male, 42 percent were female and about 1 percent was gender non-conforming. Whereas 43 percent of women agreed that there is economic discrimination in the Greek system, only 18 percent of men said the same.

Almost 60 percent of participants indicated that they were Greek-affiliated, and a slightly larger proportion of affiliated students said economic discrimination is present in the Greek system compared to unaffiliated students. Thirty-six percent of affiliated students said economic discrimination is present in the Greek system, as opposed to 18 percent of unaffiliated students. Nineteen percent of affiliated students and 26 percent of unaffiliated students responded with “neutral,” while 46 percent of affiliated students and 56 percent of unaffiliated students said there is no class-based discrimination in the Greek system.

The majority of respondents think the College is either “somewhat committed” or “very committed” to promoting socioeconomic diversity.

Household income and the frequency with which one has experienced economic discrimination did not have a major correlation with respondents’

perception of the College’s efforts to increase economic diversity.

When asked about the importance of making a high salary after graduating, 76 percent of respondents responded with “somewhat important” to “very important.” Eleven percent answered “neutral,” and 13 percent answered with “somewhat unimportant” or “very unimportant.”

Household income did not have a major correlation with how important making a high salary was to respondents.

The median expected salary of respondents after graduation was $50,000 to $70,000. The average starting salary post-graduation for Dartmouth students is $55,000, nearly doubling to $102,000 by mid-career, according to the 2013-2014 PayScale College Salary Report.

Thirty-six percent of students expected to make under $49,000, 40 percent expected to make $50,000 to $70,000. Twenty-five percent expected to make over $80,000.

Expected salaries after graduation varied somewhat by major. The majority of arts majors expected to make under $49,000, while the majority of humanities majors expected to make under $79,000. Fifty-three percent of respondents indicated that they were majoring in the social sciences. Eight percent of social science majors expected to make under $30,000, 26 percent from $30,000 to $49,999, 38 percent from $50,000 to $79,999, 22 percent from $80,000 to $100,000 and seven percent under $100,000.

.

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Financial aid, outside organizations provide student support FROM EXPERTS PAGE GK3

life.

Both Rufino and Torres said that they plan on fully embracing a liberal arts education, as well as College programs like foreign study programs, by tapping into resources for funding.

DQS co-director Emily Chan ’16 said that the biggest challenge she sees presented to lower-income and first-year students is not financial assistance, but rather the lack of a strong professional network.

“A lot students have access to professional networks through family connections, but most students who are first-years or of lower income do not have this option,” she said.

Chan added that the lack of a strong network disadvantages these students when they are seeking internships or employment, and that DQS is establishing a database of alumni to alleviate this concern.

McCabe said practical items such as affording study abroad programs, fees for clubs and organizations, going out to meals and going on trips with friends present complications to low-income students. She noted that the College is better equipped to help students

with some of these issues, like studying abroad, than they are with others, like meals with friends.

The College offers need-based financial aid that can cover all expenses defined as “educational costs,” director of financial aid Virginia Hazen said. These include tuition, room and board, textbook costs, off-campus study program costs and miscellaneous expenses, which cover necessities like toothpaste and shampoo, she said. Hazen also noted several trends that can create difficulties for students.

Hazen said that students from rural areas frequently express frustration over finding off-term work that pays the amount of money they are expected to pay the College. She noted that this pattern often causes students to take out unexpected loans.

Another long-term trend, she said, is that students opt to take out loans rather than work 10 to 12 hours a week.

The financial aid office needs to be equitable in the way they award money, Hazen said. If a student is taking art classes with extra equipment necessary or science classes with a lab fee, the office can only give a loan for it, potentially limiting students’ academic options, she

said.

Hazen said she was concerned with student outreach as with the office’s current staff size they are not able to meet with each incoming student receiving financial aid at the start of their time at the College.

Receiving immediate information about how financial aid works at Dartmouth “always seemed to me to get people off on the right foot here,” she said.

“It is hard to tap into the system,” Hazen said. “People need to reach out to us too. We’re happy to do presentations, but we don’t want to go and then have nobody show up.”

Christine Brongniart, director of strategic partnerships and external relations at the Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, said that LEDA tries to offload some of the burden from financial aid by setting up networks to help low-income students navigate their college experience and operating as a source of support and resource.

Fourteen LEDA scholars have attended the College, with five currently enrolled, Brongniart said.

LEDA is a national non-profit that works to develop the skills of high-achieving public high school students from socioeconomically

disadvantaged backgrounds. The group mostly focuses on helping low-income, high-achieving students gain access to competitive institutions of higher education.

“The system isn’t set up to support students as much as they may need as far as extra stability from financial aid officers and the ability to actually get support in a timely way.”

-CHRISTINE BRONGNIART, LEADERSHIP ENTERPRISE FOR A DIVERSE AMERICA, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS AND STRATEGIC RELATIONS

Brongniart said themes in feedback from past students currently attending college include not finding strong support systems and delays in financial aid.

“The system isn’t set up to support students as much as they may need as far as extra stability from financial aid officers and the ability to actually get support in a timely way,” Brongniart said.

She noted that the way administrative systems are set up creates a “bottleneck effect,” because there are not enough staff members to meet students’ needs.

Brongniart said she encourages students to take out micro-grants

— small sums of money — for emergencies or for lab and course work fees.

Brongniart said that a peermentoring network for incoming students would help.

“Older classmen who have navigated the process for four years can help incoming students,” she said. “They can help support them, answer questions, have a human relationship.”

Chan said that DQS currently has a peer mentoring program where younger students are paired with older scholars. The program is designed to foster strong relationships among the mentee and mentor pairs in order to provide younger scholars with assistance to adapting to life at Dartmouth.

LEDA helps students deal with “cultural insensitivity” that students might feel from the university, administrators, financial aid officers and other students, she noted.

Torres said she attributes the lack of past conversation to people’s fear of discussing the issue in an insensitive manner. Rufino echoed Torres’ sentiments, adding that conversations about class should focus on personal experiences as opposed to hard numbers.

“Talking about it around campus does not mean you go around saying my family makes $120,000 a year or $30,000 a year, it’s sharing your background and that’s your own story,” Rufino said.

Torres said that she does not view her economic status as a barrier to her educational experiences at Dartmouth. “ I can only speak for myself, but I don’t feel like I am limited or have any less opportunities than anyone here,” Torres said.

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

UFC aims to be “equitable” with funding FROM UFC PAGE GK7

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to tuition increases. He noted that the UFC budgetary process was strict.

Mertz said that class council requested the same amount of money as it did in the previous year. He said that the group did not ask for any more than what they needed, which was not the norm for other organizations. UFC granted class council’s requested amount.

“After much discussion, people kind of come to their own conclusions about how much each organization deserves,” Parrish said.

Each UFC member sends their budget idea for each of the nine groups to the chair, who records the averages and the medians, Parrish said. Committee members then rank the groups from most to least essential to fund.

The budgetary process begins with the group designated as most important to fund. Parrish called the voting process, started by last year’s chair Eli Derrow ’15, streamlined.

She said that each member starts with their hand up as she reads potential funding amounts and puts his or her hand down “as soon as an individual feels uncomfortable with funding.” As soon of half of the members do so, the chair records the amount.

The organizations provide updates on a termly basis to the UFC, Parrish said. Members of UFC also keep an eye on campus emails and contact group representatives if the events are “exclusive.” If the event does not seem to be open to all students, the UFC will hold meetings immediately to determine how to

get funds paid back, Parrish said.

While she trusts campus organizations’ leaders, she noted that there is room for funds to “slip through the cracks.” She said the UFC does not hesitate to call out organizations for irresponsible spending.

“There’s too many eyes and ears on campus, too many people in the UFC and associated with the UFC who know the rules not to have this check and balance going on,” Parrish said.

She noted another sanctioning incident involved this term’s Pharaoh’s Ball, hosted by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and funded by the Greek Leadership Council, which gains its funds from UFC. Parrish said the Pharaoh’s Ball both cost an “exorbitant” amount of money and was exclusive.

Parrish said, however, that the GLC immediately responded to the UFC inquiry, admitted they had misused the UFC funds and tapped into a bank account of dues from affiliated students to pay back the funds.

“It’s unfortunate that money abuse does occur, but I think everything in the past has been handled very well,” Parrish said.

Parrish emphasized that the allocation of funds to all organizations is fair. She noted the committee members represent many facets of campus and that she trusts each individual member to put aside their affiliations and approach voting without bias.

“There’s a strong precedent that’s set to be objective, to be fair, to be equitable and to have high integrity, and it’s something we really enforce,” Parrish said.

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THESIS PRESENTATIONS BY GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT HONORS STUDENTS  CLASS OF 2015 

 ALL ARE WELCOME  215 Silsby Hall  MONDAY, MAY 18

2:00 PM NIKITA SACHDEVA

Choice Architecture in Social Policy: An Analysis of Social Impact Bonds in the United States

8:00 AM MEGAN BOGIA 1:00 PM ZACHARY MARKOVICH

Why Do People Fight for a Country? Hemingway on Patriotism Volatile States: Volatility in American Presidential Elections

8:00 AM LOGAN BROG

Security Force Structure and Sectarian Conflict: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Recruitment, Composition, and Performance Laws are Made to be Broken: Executive Prerogative and the Rule of Law

2:00 PM SAMUEL STRATTON 8:00 AM HENRY FROST 12:00 PM ALEXANDER RUBIN

TUESDAY, MAY 19

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20

THURSDAY, MAY 21

Threat Perception and Nuclear Deterrability: Understanding Deterrence Policy in a Changing Nuclear Landscape Dangerous Allies? The Potential Costs of America’s Asian Alliances

FRIDAY, MAY 22

9:00 AM ALEXANDRA JOHNSON 1:00 PM ANDREW LI

An Anti-Terrorist Toolkit: Investigating the Roots of Variation in Islamist Terrorist Attacks Coalition Bargaining in Two-Party Legislatures

9:00 AM SARA KASSIR 2:00 PM BRETT DRUCKER

Changing Words, Changing Minds: Examine How Variations on Soft Power Rhetoric Affect Public Diplomacy Outcomes in Egypt Softening Anti-Americanism through Soft Power: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in France

8:00 AM COLIN WALMSLEY

Leaders, Ballots, and Bullets: Political Survival and State Responses to Secessionism

2:00 PM AARON GOODMAN

Moderating Moral Reasoning: Lincoln’s Contributions to Interpretive Theory

8:00 AM SAMANTHA SHERMAN

Mano Dura Doesn’t Win: Examining the Effectiveness of Anti-Crime Platforms in Latin American Presidential Campaigns Chinese Soft Power: Motivations and Objectives

12:00 PM AMANDA LAMOTHE-CADET 2:00 PM SASHA DUDDING

MONDAY, MAY 25

TUESDAY, MAY 26

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27 THURSDAY, MAY 28

FRIDAY, MAY 29

Harder to Read, Easier to Understand? Political Misinformation and the Disfluency Effect

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

Students, admins: College can do more to help low-income students FROM SUPPORT PAGE GK6

for students. He said that they want to increase programming and expand the program beyond first years to cover topics like career options and life after Dartmouth.

Davis said that College is a much more diverse campus compared to when he attended Dartmouth as a member of the Class of 1990. He noted the increased focus on recruiting more students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds and ensure all students have the resources and opportunities to thrive on campus.

During her time at the College, Blythe George ’12 was an Alliance for Socioeconomic Awareness leader and involved with the firstgeneration network. George said that ASA went inactive due to a combination of time constraints and not having leaders in place upon the graduation of founding members.

ASA was founded in 2008 by Cory Kendrick ’10 and Maya Nathan ’10 with Davis serving as the advisor for the group, Blythe said.

George said that while at the College, she worked 15 to 20 hours a week. The first-generation student network offered a community

to students of similar background along with focus groups, she said.

George said that she would like to see more support from Dartmouth to alleviate financial constraints on physical education and course requirements, such as funding for certain lab classes and winter activities classes.

Agosto said that though the College is a need-blind institution and offers generous financial aid packages, additional costs such as textbooks and travel may cause problems for low-income students.

“There are a lot of individual circumstances that occur that make aid challenging,” she said.

In order for the College to have a breadth of high achieving and diverse students, they must go beyond just offering need-blind aid, Agosto said, adding that “the biggest initiatives that I would like to see is helping students on financial aid really understand both the apparent and the hidden costs of coming to Dartmouth.”

George noted that the presence of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds helps lessen the stigma attached to those students.

She said that first-generation students often still feel responsible for their community at home, which

can take a mental toll.

“The sooner you figure out that it is not selfish to get sleep, it is not

selfish to take a step back from your family, because at the end of the day you are in Hanover and can’t

do anything and you only get the chance to do what you are doing once,” George said.

“How committed do you believe Dartmouth is to promoting socioeconomic diversity?”

MICHAEL QIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Data for this graph were taken from 696 responses to a survey sent out by The Dartmouth from May 4 to 8.

The Dartmouth

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Friday, May 15, 2015

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Professors discuss economic inclusivity

ute to the decision on to affiliate, they can impact the decision to join group together based on the per- specific Greek houses. ception of shared characteristics, “I wonder if it would be the same meaning that a Greek house that here or not,” McCabe said. “There is perceived as wealthier could are certainly reputations that housattract wealthier es have, from students. what students “From a psy- “Universities should tell me.” chological per- help people become M c spective, we Cabe said that socially mobile, so if know that people it was generally want to belong organizations are not preferable that to groups to help being inclusive, then organizations their social idenbe socioecothey can become tity,” he said. nomically inH e a t h e r t o n agesnts of perpetuating clusive, noting noted the work that universiinequalities.” of a student in ties — through the previous definancial aid cade who found - JANICE MCCABE, programs and in the course of need-blind researching an SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR admissions — honors thesis that have become “People could reliably predict who more inclusive and diverse in recent would get into which sorority based years. solely on physical appearance.”

“Universities should help people Heatherton was unaware of any become socially mobile, so if orgasimilar data for financial or socio- nizations are not being inclusive, economic factors. then they can become agents of Sociology professor Janice Mc- perpetuating inequalities,” she said.

Cabe, an expert in social psychology, Still, built-in socioeconomic inequality and education, said that biases can persist. while she lacked Dartmouth-specific “People are going to join groups data, research conducted by Jenny that are somewhat exclusive to Stuber, a sociology professor at the people who they wish to be, because University of North Florida, indi- being a member of that group concated that though socioeconomic firms that aspect of yourself that you factors may not necessarily contrib- want to have,” Heatherton said.

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

Careers after Dartmouth:

Does one’s major determine one’s financial future?

Story

B y caroline berens

Like many freshmen, Frank Uzzi ’15 entered college planning on a major that would both match his skill set and please his parents. Dead set on the engineering track, he immediately started taking the appropriate math and physics prerequisites his freshman fall, giving little deep thought to his plan.

And yet, an arbitrary decision to take “Drawing 1” during his freshman fall to balance out his problem set-heavy classes led Uzzi down a very different path. This spring he will graduate with a degree in studio art.

Uzzi said, however, that he did not always feel complete certainty about his major due to concerns regarding future career opportunities.

Uzzi represents just one of the many students at the College whose major does not necessarily follow as strict or predetermined a plan as, for example, the pre-engineering or prehealth paths do. What’s more, such majors do not generally connote the same ideas of professional success as those with more fixed tracks.

In a survey conducted by The Dartmouth of 696 students, the median expected salary of respondents after graduation was $50,000 to $80,000. Thirty-six percent of students expected to make under $49,000, 40 percent expected to make $50,000 to $80,000 and 25 percent expected to make over $80,000.

The majority of students, including those in the social, quantitative and physical sciences as well as the humanities, said they expected their post-graduation income to be between $50,000 to $80,000. The majority of students with majors in the arts placed their predicted starting salary to be between $30,000 to $49,000.

These predictions align with the reality of post-Dartmouth earnings.

The average starting salary postgraduation for Dartmouth students is $55,000, nearly doubling to $102,000 by mid-career, according to the 2013-2014 PayScale College Salary Report.

Uzzi said that when he began looking for internships, he found himself worrying about the future financial viability of his field of interest.

Uzzi explained that he began exploring the field of architecture by contacting alumni. Many were working in offices somewhat, but not fully, related to architecture, which worried Uzzi.

In one instance, an alumnus of the College, a CEO of a solar en-

ergy startup company and former architecture major for whom Uzzi worked on an off-term, shared some disheartening news.

“He was very disenchanted by [architecture],” Uzzi said. “He told me that to support his family, he had to move out of that industry and go into this solar startup. I’ve had a similar experience talking to other alums.”

Several alumni suggested to Uzzi that to find “real success,” he might be better off looking in related fields.

He said that this advice saddened, more than disappointed, him.

This past fall Uzzi decided to go through the corporate recruiting process to see if the business world would pique his interest. It did not, but Uzzi said he is grateful for the experience.

“The more I interviewed, the more realized it wasn’t something I wanted to do,” Uzzi said. “Going through recruiting was eye-opening because it made me realize I didn’t need to question my major and that my interests are my interests.”

Corporate recruiting through the Center for Professional Development, a popular option for students searching for internships, involves a highly competitive and lengthy selection process through which students can find jobs in fields like finance and consulting.

This winter 665 students submitted 8,256 applications for the 189 positions advertised through the Center for Professional Development.

Those who participate in corporate recruiting give up a sizable portion of their time and energy as they go through multiple levels of interviews.

The process, reputed to be onerous and stressful, is likely disillusioning for many students, as it was for Uzzi.

After his experience with corporate recruiting confirmed that he had made the right decision, Uzzi began to look into a variety of careers and began to worry less about his future.

“Just because I’m not an economics major looking for an investment banking job doesn’t mean I’m any less off,” Uzzi explained.

And to this day, Uzzi said, he has never questioned his decision to forgo engineering.

“I haven’t looked back since,” Uzzi said. “I never regretted not being an engineer…I would have hated to go through four years of college doing something I didn’t enjoy.”

Orfeas Zormpalas ’16 expressed a similar sentiment about the importance of choosing a major based on your passions, regardless of its impli-

“ How important is earning a high salary to you after graduating?”

MICHAEL QIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Data for this graph were taken from 696 responses to a survey sent out by The Dartmouth from May 4 to 8.

cations for one’s career. He decided to major in philosophy irrespective of professional outcomes.

Many students, however, do chose majors with a career-oriented mindset. Shayn Jiang ’15, an economics major modified with engineering, corroborated this based on observations from her classmates in both departments.

“I think [lucrativeness] is for sure a big factor,” Jiang said. “I’m just not sure to what extent.”

Will Corbett, who graduated in the Class of 2010 and is an assistant director of admissions at the College, agreed with Jiang based on his observations of his classmates.

“I’m sure [lucrativiteness] is part of the calculation, but it might not be openly expressed,” Corbett said.

“It depends how open and honest people are with themselves.”

Of 696 students surveyed, more than 75 percent classified making a high salary as either very or somewhat important.

A national survey of college freshmen by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles reported that students are more concerned about financial success and aspire to attend graduate schools to better career prospects. A record 82 percent wrote that it was very important or essential that they become well-off financially. This number is almost double what it was when researchers first collected data 40 years ago.

Whether that concern manifests

itself into deliberate major decisions remains up for discussion.

Jiang emphasized that it’s important to choose a major based on your interests, as she did, to maintain one’s happiness and maximize success.

Zormpalas said that, generally, he sees two groups of philosophy majors — those like himself, who choose the subject solely for intrigue, and others who aim to put it towards a career in something like law or government.

Although Zormpalas said that people come into philosophy for all sorts of reasons, it usually does largely stem from academic interest, more than its potential to engender a lucrative career.

“It isn’t exactly the hottest thing professionally,” Zormpalas said.

A Forbes article showed that for 2014 college graduates across the country, those with bachelor’s degrees in the humanities and liberal arts earn an equivalent starting salary to the average for all majors, at just under $40,000.

The starting salary of engineers is significantly higher at approximately $55,000 annually. The starting salary for those in finance, however, is only about $5,000 more than those working in the humanities and liberal arts.

Zormpalas noted that he is considering going into academia, a more popular career choice for students majoring in subjects with less stringent or predetermined career paths. He said that he has wavered in whether or not that is something

he would like to pursue.

This seemingly limited pool of career options was one of the reasons that kept Fiona Bowen ’18 from pursuing a math major — although she said that math has thus far been her favorite subject at the College — and instead lead her down the pre-engineering track.

“If I were to major in math, I think I would have to go into academia, and I don’t really want to do that,” Bowen said. “Engineering provides more versatility for career options.”

Bowen noted that she also chose engineering because it both incorporates her strongest subjects and provides personal fulfillment.

“I’ve always liked science and math, and engineering also appealed to me for its humanitarian aspect,” Bowen said. “You have the potential to help people in a big way.”

Jiang echoed this sentiment, saying that she decided to pursue engineering due to its potential to solve social issues.

Although engineers are known for being well paid, Bowen and Jiang said they both chose the subject out of interest and for personal fulfillment.

Bowen said that the field’s high pay is an added bonus.

Joseph Helble, Dean of the Thayer School of Engineering, said that pursuing engineering is becoming an increasingly popular option on a national level due to a conception SEE CAREERS PAGE GK22

The Dartmouth

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Friday, May 15, 2015

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Athletics and socioeconomic status:

NCAA and Ivy League rules complicate recruitment Story

B y Kourtney Kawano

If you take a minute to survey the students around you, chances are you will spot more than a few who proudly sport green or black jackets embroidered with their respective sport team’s name. If you do not notice the jackets, maybe you spotted students wearing green Nike shoes or black Nike backpacks with their jersey numbers stitched on the back pocket.

With over 1,000 varsity athletes out of an undergraduate population of approximately 4,000, it is likely either you are an athlete or you encounter one, or even several, in your daily routine. This group of students that represents the College on various fields and arenas also represents the school’s diversity in terms of socioeconomic status.

Harry Sheehy, director of athletics and recreation, said the relationship between socioeconomic status and varsity athletes varies by sport. He noted that “country club sports” such as tennis or golf consist of students from different backgrounds than others.

“They all bleed into one another, but there are definitely cohorts of socioeconomic status that fills teams in different ways,” Sheehy said.

Men’s basketball head coach Paul Cormier said that his team is composed of members from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.

He noted that NCAA regulations, which restrict the number of players who receive any form of financial aid on a basketball team to 13 individuals, is unfair. The NCAA sets limits on the number of players per team who can receive athletic scholarships known as “counters.”

He noted that he would have to cut a student who receives financial aid before a student from a higher socioeconomic class if there were already 13 players on financial aid, “even though the first student might be better athletically.”

“I can only have 13 team counters, so that is a big factor when we go through the process of recruiting,” Cormier said. “And I don’t care what the Ivy League says, that’s discrimination.”

Men’s cross country head coach Barry Harwick ’77 said athletes on the team range from those paying the full price of attendance and athletes who receive full needbased financial aid.

He said that he would assume those of higher socioeconomic backgrounds had an easier time applying and gaining admission to Dartmouth due to better academic

preparation before college.

Men’s lightweight rower Christopher Tinsman ’18 said he would assume based on his interactions that his teammates probably come from the upper middle class and above.

Women’s volleyball player Julia Lau ’17 echoed similar statements about her teammates.

Tinsman noted that he does not see any evidence of tension created by class differences between teammates or sports teams. He said that certain athletes are considered “basic” or “dumb.”

“I do think athletes are associated with stereotypes, but that has

“I can only have 13 team counters, so that is a big factor when we go through the process of recruiting. And I don’t care what the Ivy League says, that’s discrimination.”

-paul cormier, men’s basketball head coach nothing to do with socioeconomic classes,” Tinsman said.

While many high school athletes dream of competing at the collegiate level, the increasing cost of tuition nationally has resulted in an increase in the demand for athletic scholarships. The College’s undergraduate first-year cost of attendance is $67,434 and with the annual tuition increase — 2.9 percent for this upcoming school year — the cost to attend does not show any signs of decreasing.

According to Dartmouth’s annual Facts and Figures release, 53 percent of undergraduate students received some form of financial aid during the 2013-2014 school year.

During this same school year, 1,026 or 24.7 percent of the student body were varsity athletes. Because all financial aid at Dartmouth is need blind, deputy director of athletics Bob Ceplikas ’78 said the athletics department does not keep track of whether a varsity athlete receives financial aid.

Unlike the power conferences, which include the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC, that can now pass their own scholarship

rules and dish out millions of dollars in financial scholarships based on athletic talent, the members of the Ivy League must follow strict regulations.

In 1945, representatives of the eight Ivy League institutions signed the “Ivy Group Agreement,” which established the conference’s pledge to not offer athletic scholarships but instead to provide need-based financial aid. At first, the agreement applied only to football, but in February 1954, the agreement’s bylaws expanded to affect all intercollegiate sports.

Currently, families earning below $65,000 annually are not expected to make a financial contribution towards their student’s tuition costs and those earning between $65,000 to $180,000 pay a percentage of full tuition on a sliding scale basis.

“The monopoly power of the Ivy League protects schools from getting into an arms race to buy more and more talent,” economics professor Bruce Sacerdote said. “We are playing competitive Division I sports, but the athletes are students first.”

Despite the lack of athletic scholarships, many student-athletes choose to attend an Ivy League school because of their reputation for academic excellence and generous financial aid package offerings, Ivy League executive director Robin Harris said.

She added that the conference has a natural advantage in attracting student-athletes because she believes the eight institutions offer the best combination of academics and athletics in the country. In many instances students could receive financial packages that are equal to or greater than athletic scholarships offered elsewhere, she said.

Lau said she received scholarships from Temple, Seattle, Emory and Pepperdine Universities, but she chose Dartmouth for academic reasons and receives $10,000 annually from the College in financial aid.

“I don’t necessarily identify myself as just an athlete in any sense,” Lau said. “That’s the point of Dartmouth. You’re a student and an athlete.”

At Dartmouth, some athletes even take on part-time jobs in addition to being full-time students.

On behalf of the College’s Student Employment Office, peer counselor Alex Sclafani ’18 wrote in an email that 3,527 students worked in 2014

, with 1,580 students holding jobs in the fall term. Of 1,152 first-year students, 225, or 19.5 percent, of the class worked in an hourly-paid position during the fall.

Men’s cross-country and track and field athlete Kyle Dotterrer ’18 said that he started working at the Hopkins Center in the fall and that his family pays full tuition. Dotterrer said that he would have decided to work with or without an athletic scholarship.

“I’d be lying of I didn’t say it’s difficult to balance athletics with academics and working,” Dotterrer said.

In some ways, the inability to provide athletic scholarships limits the athletic competitiveness of the conference. Since the conference formed in 1957, the Ivy League has won 46 NCAA team championships and 197 NCAA individual championships. Of those totals, Dartmouth won three in the team category and 38 in the individual category.

While the College has the most NCAA individual champions of

“The monopoly of the Ivy League protects schools from getting into an arms race to buy more and more talent.”

-Bruce Sacerdote, economics professor

all the Ivies, the conference’s totals cannot compare against those of wealthier conferences. The Pac-12 Conference alone claims the top three spots for the most NCAA Division I team championships.

The University of California at Los Angeles places first with 111, Stanford University comes second with 105 and the University of Southern California rounds out the top three with 100 championships.

Princeton University boasts the highest number of team championships with just 12 since 1957.

Sheehy said Dartmouth differs from colleges in other conferences such as the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor because the College’s athletic department is not selfsupporting.

The College does generate revenues from its athletic teams, but

Sheehy said it is not comparable to self-supporting athletic departments like that of Michigan’s. According to Dartmouth’s 2013-2014 Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act report, the College makes a profit of $13,631,924 from its athletic program based on the difference between the program’s revenue and expenses. In comparison, Pennsylvania State University, the school that profits the most in the Big Ten Conference, one of the most valuable conferences, makes $50,427,645 on their football program alone.

The salary gap for the College’s coaching staff compared to those of the other Ivies, however, presents a problem specific to Dartmouth.

Dartmouth salaries for coaches are the lowest in the Ivy League and, like all the other Ivies, has a gender wage gap. The Department of Education reported the average salary last school year for a men’s team head coach at Dartmouth was $101,893 while a women’s team head coach made on average of $73,339.

At Harvard University, male team head coaches receive $117,504 annually and women’s team head coaches receive $74,104. A men’s team head coach at Yale University boasts a salary of $125,851 and women’s team head coach receives $90,916.

In response to this salary gap, Sheehy said he submitted a proposal to the administration on how to positively impact coaches’ salaries.

“It’s been a historical problem here,” Sheehy said. “We’re a resource-based business so if we want to hire and retain good coaches, we’re going to need to fix that.”

In addition to these difficulties, recruiting athletes to attend and compete for Ivy League schools has been complicated further by the NCAA Autonomy rulings, which give top Division I schools more power. This past January, representatives from five NCAA power conferences responded to the inflating costs of college and voted to increase the amount of scholarship money Division I schools can provide to its student-athletes by at least $50 million a year.

In addition, this year’s March Madness tournament and the newly reformed FCS Championship have stirred up debate about whether or not student-athletes should be paid.

Those in favor of this change SEE ATHLETICS PAGE GK22

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The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Dartmouth degree, future careers FROM CAREERS PAGE GK20

that it will lead to a successful highpaying career. He noted, though, that he feels students do not chose the major solely for these reasons.

“Students come with an interest in technology, some care about problems in energy, access to clean water, healthcare — that’s what I see driving the motivation of students majoring in engineering here, as opposed to jobs,” Helble said.

Majors do not necessarily dictate career paths, especially when it’s possible to have multiple majors and minors at Dartmouth, Corbett said.

He noted that a friend of his, Dan Susman ’10 who majored in environmental studies, has spent the last five years traveling the country to create a documentary about urban farming.

Although the documentary’s topic related somewhat to his major, Corbett said Susman never could have predicted a path involving film.

Similarly, Zormpalas said that he knows philosophy majors who have gone on to have careers at investment management firms like Bridgewater Associated.

Jiang, who worked for Goldman Sachs last summer, noted that although they all had an interest in

financial markets, her fellow interns were people from all sorts of majors and backgrounds including classics, math and computer science.

Instead, employers care about students’ abilities to communicate, write and problem-solve — skills that can be cultivated studying any subject, Jiang said.

Helble said that students, regardless of their major, gain these skill sets at the College.

“Dartmouth students are programmed to speak, write and think clearly,” Helble said. “And a liberal arts education gives you context for understanding the great challenges of the world.”

Jiang said that because so many Dartmouth economics majors pursue careers in finance, this well-traveled path is popular.

She noted, however, that not all economics majors desire such positions — others plan to work in fields like policy or at think tanks.

Uzzi said that the flexibility and versatility of less-tracked majors could actually be beneficial in professional environments.

“We aren’t as locked in,” Uzzi explained.

Corbett, speaking for both his and his friends’ perspectives five years out

of Dartmouth, said that he does not think many people regret the major they chose.

“People definitely have come to realize the realities of being an adult and making money for yourself and making things work,” Corbett said.

“The vast majority of people hit a few rough patches, but I don’t think they would change anything.”

Ultimately, Uzzi said that he believes all graduates of the College have an equal number of opportunities when facing the professional world.

“The fear is there, but just as much as any other major, which is exciting in a way,” Uzzi said. “We all have several doors open to us.”

Helbe noted that coming from an Ivy League school puts students of all majors in a favorable position.

“Dartmouth graduates, regardless of major, do very well in the job market,” Helble said.

And ultimately, Jiang said, a Dartmouth degree, irrespective of the words written on it, will be one of graduated students’ biggest professional assets.

“Coming from a place like Dartmouth,” Jiang said, “employers don’t discriminate based on your major.”

Friday, May 15, 2015

Athletics department discuss athlete stipends FROM ATHLETICS PAGE GK21

“The benefits of attending Dartmouth or another peer instiargue that athletes should receive a tution probably vastly exceeds any fair cut of the multi-million dollar stipend we might offer,” Sacerdote revenues. For the NCAA, the debate said. has been a concern since 1972, Some universities, however, have the last year college athletes were started offering stipends to studentpermitted a small monthly stipend athletes. This upcoming fall, the known as “laundry money.”

University of Nebraska at Lincoln Those opposed to paying stu- will give a $3,600 stipend to full-time dent athletes argue that not pay- scholarship students participating ing athletes keeps the competition in football and both men and womat an amateur en’s basketball level rather and volleyball “The benefits of than a profesteams. sional one, with attending Dartmouth This smaller schools or another peer decision is monpointing to a umental conlack of available institution probably sidering that in funding to pay vastly exceeds any 2011 the NCAA their athletes. announced it Sheehy said stipend we might would not enpaying athletes offer.” force a $2,000 goes against stipend rule for the Ivy League college athletes model and does -BRUCE SACERDOTE, due to the numnot believe in- ECONOMICS PROFESSOR ber of opposing stitutions should institutions. pay athletes deT h e spite the extreme demands placed Ivy League may not be able to on them. compete at the same financial level “I would like to see them get at as more powerful and wealthy consome level of full cost of attendance ferences because of the regulation because we do require some things requiring only need-based aid, but from them that we don’t of the Sheehy said that it still produces student body,” Sheehy said. “But “talented students capable of shappart of this is you come here for a ing the world.” great education, and you’re going “We still know that our eight to make up everything as you go on schools make a vast difference in for the rest of your life.” people’s lives,” Sheehy said. “As Sacerdote echoed similar com- long as we maintain that and conments about how the Ivy League’s tinue to make leaders in education, policy is intentional and successful economics, medicine and law, then in focusing on need-based financial we will maintain enough cache to aid. keep ourselves in the mix.”

The Dartmouth

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Friday, May 15, 2015

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The invisibility of socioeconomic status: Low-income students discuss “culture shock” Story

B y SAM FORSTNER

I sat across from Ilenna Jones ’15 change what they wear. at a high-top table by the stairs in the “I used to always wear T-shirts and Collis Center, just talking for half an jeans, and now I’m like, ‘Oh, well, if hour. From my vantage point I could I’m a woman at Dartmouth, I should see countless students going about be wearing really nice dresses and their days — leaving with cardboard jewelry,’ which is not really such a stir fry containers in hand, checking big deal for me back at home,” Jones flyers on the bulletin board for job said. and lecture post F o r ings, exiting Colmost of us, the lis Market with “All through my life transition to colample snacks for it was poverty and lege is a diffitheir Sunday in cult one. Living that has shaped evthe library. alone in a new Fr o m t h e erything for me. If place, constantbrief once-over I’m thinking about ly being introI gave each passduced to counting individual, I whether to study or less new people obtained a sim- go out, I think about and being faced plistic, supera demandthe reality that I want with ficial snapshot ing workload is a of their identity to happen.” tremendous ad— I could see justment. That the pigment of adjustment is their skin, the -ILENNA JONES ’15, further compliway they car- Dartmouth Quest cated for sturied themselves dents from lower and not much Scholars Liaison socioeconomic else. While these backgrounds at details are not all an institution there is to understand a person, they like Dartmouth. are what the eye sees and the brain “When you get here, you know subsequently internalizes, every day, yourself and your family background hundreds of times a day. These brief and you look at everyone else here glimpses often yield little insight into and think, ‘What have I come to?’” another identity category — class.

Jones said. “There’s a culture shock.

Jones said that this invisibility People are going to think, ‘I don’t means class is often overlooked. The belong here because I haven’t travvisibility of issues like race and gen- eled the world yet or I don’t know der lead to higher levels of activism how to ski.’” and support around those issues, she Kelsey Justis ’16 , a Quest Scholar, said. said that it can be a struggle to adjust “They receive more attention to the College environment as lowon this campus because they’re not income students “definitely” face a invisible,” Jones said. culture shock.

No recent campus activism like “You just come here and see so last winter’s “Freedom Budget” much obvious money,” Justis said. and this spring’s #BlackLivesMat- “Whether it’s in the clothes, the way ter protests have focused entirely on that people act, the things they talk class issues. The “Freedom Budget” about, what they value. There’s just a did put forward proposals to address complete disconnect. Students from several systems of oppression, includ- low-income backgrounds come here ing classism, in addition to sexism, and have no idea how to interact.” heterosexism and ableism. More Jones serves as the liaison visible identities are more often used for Dartmouth Quest Scholars, to label individuals as a member of a campus branch of the national one group or another.

QuestBridge organization that helps “Even if you don’t want that to be high-achieving low-income students your identity, people will make that apply to college. She coordinates choice for you and make assumptions efforts at Dartmouth with national about you,” Jones said. headquarters and helps reach out to One of the only ways to discern a prospective students, matching them person’s class without them explicitly with current students who can relate telling you their financial situation is to them and answer their questions. by their clothing, Jones said, pointing The organization plans to change to items like Canada Goose jackets its name to the Dartmouth Socioecoas “class indicators.” nomic Alliance to better reflect its Jones said that this often can put desire to reach all members of the pressure on low-income students to community not just those affiliated

JEFFREY LEE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Ilena Jones ’15 discusses how here low-income background affected her past four years at the College.

with QuestBridge. one’s low-income background to Emily Chan ’16, co-director of a “coming out” of sorts. He said DQS, said that while the College that students might fear their peers does provide certain resources for harboring negative attitudes due to low-income students, these students stereotypes the media perpetuates. still face problems.

Justis said these include the miscon “I believe that everyone on this ception that, “If you’re poor, you’re campus is capable of achieving, re- lazy.” gardless of where they come from,” The presidential steering comChan said. “Dartmouth does a really mittee’s report submitted to College excellent job of leveling the field, but President Phil Hanlon showed that at the same time there are difficulties, 59 percent of Dartmouth stuthere are defidents come from nitely some opfamilies with inportunities they “Whether it’s in the comes of over are not able to clothes, the way $200,000, depursue.” these famipeople act, the things spite Justis sa id lies making up the organiza- they talk about, what only six percent tion has been they value. There’s of the nation’s very helpful, not population. necessarily due just a complete T h u s, to specific initia- disconnect.” not only lowtives or events, income students, but simply due but middle-class to the fact that it - Kelsey Justis ’16, a students as well, has allowed him quest scholar make up what to meet other Jones calls the students with “silent minority” whom he can on this campus. identify.

Jones said that no student should deal Jones said DQS serves an impor- with culture shock alone and that tant function because the invisibility DQS hopes to ensure that students of class makes it difficult to find a have a support system. sympathetic ear. She said that not Jones, from Baltimore, described having the same perceived experi- her living situation before college ences and opportunities as other as one characterized by poverty.

Dartmouth students carries with it She said that the topics her friends “a kind of shame.” from home discuss at their col Justis equated being open about leges are not conversation topics

that would be deemed acceptable at Dartmouth.

She said that it is normal for her friends at University of Maryland at Baltimore County ­— an institution with a considerably different socioeconomic makeup from Dartmouth — to talk about needing jobs and the difficulty of balancing work and school.

Chan said that in addition to increased awareness, the College could make greater funds available for students who are of lower income and would like to go home over breaks, travel or work unpaid jobs or internships.

“We want to change the idea of class being something that’s broken and needs to be fixed,” Jones said.

“Maybe my drive for success is just driven by a perceived failure of my family. Did my family fail?”

Jones said that many students on campus do not appreciate the ability to go to the Class of 1953 Commons and eat as much as we want before walking five minutes to the Hopkins Center to see an Italian opera. She said that being here feels “like a fantasy” at times and that her background constantly molds her decision-making.

“All through my life it was poverty and that has shaped everything for me,” Jones said. “If I’m thinking about whether to study or go out, I think about the reality that I want to happen. There’s a pressure that’s always there.”

Page GK24

The Dartmouth

GREEN KEY 2015

Friday, May 15, 2015

Through the Looking Glass: “Inevitably it comes up. ‘How is Dartmouth going?’”

Column

B y HUI CHENG

I avoid going home because I can’t avoid mealtimes. The scene plays out almost exactly the same way each time. My father complains about bills, my mother gossips about her immigrant friends’ children and my 10-year-old brother spills food onto his comic books, ignoring everyone present. I remain silent, not sure which parts of my current life I can share with a family that lives in an entirely different world.

The D-Plan helps, giving me excuses to drop in briefly and leave.

I have to fly to London. I have to leave for my internship. I have to get back to school so I can have a few days to study up before classes. The inconsistency of the D-Plan schedule lends me a façade of busyness that I can hide behind at home or on the phone. Mom, I would love to talk, but I can’t.

But inevitably, it comes up. “How is Dartmouth going?”

Winter break after freshman fall, I didn’t want to answer the question. I had a difficult time adjusting to college with the overwhelming New England culture and moneyed privilege permeating every little corner of campus life. When my undergraduate advisor stressed to us the importance of building relationships with professors, I was too embarrassed to ask for clarification as to what that meant while others nodded along. What did it mean to build relationships? All my life, I had been taught that teachers and adults were authoritative figures — classes were instructive. I did my work, I was respectful toward professors and I got good grades. It was how I had aced high school, and when the same formula didn’t map onto college, I wasn’t sure what to do.

My parents never attended college in the United States and had little idea of what a liberal arts education might entail. In my public school, teachers were always busy, and our one college counselor was constantly overworked.

Who could explain to me how these interactions worked? A friend tried to describe the relationship process to me as professional networking, but it only intensified my confusion. My parents weren’t in jobs that required a professional network — how would I have known what that social dance entailed?

And then, there was money. I remember my first dinner with my first year peer mentor. She had three other mentees and wanted to organize a group meal to get to know

each other. We decided on Jewel of India as a break from campus food.

I scoped out the menu beforehand and found something inexpensive.

At Jewel, the four others decided to order drinks and appetizers. They asked me what I wanted. I thought about the price and said I wasn’t hungry yet.

We started making small talk.

The others joked about their summer vacations and where they hoped to ski in the winter. When our mentor asked us where we liked to go out, the two other girls told her about their sports teams and fraternities from back home. I tried to chime in with a few fraternities I had heard of, but I didn’t know how to express that I had yet to “go out” because I felt guilty about the opportunity cost of weekend socializing. In high school, I never had free time and neither did my friends. We were the children of immigrants who had given up careers, social standing and material comfort to come to the United States, in search of brighter futures for the younger generation. I had studied, volunteered and spent all of my free time on extracurriculars because I wanted to repay my parents’ sacrifices by going to a prestigious university.

At Dartmouth, that same sense of obligation remained unshakable.

My parents were skimping and saving at home so I wouldn’t have to take on a student job at school and so I could take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities offered by a school like Dartmouth.

They did so to ensure that down the road I could find a financially stable career path and become better off than they were — this goal was my priority. What kind of ungrateful, irresponsible child would I be if I wasted my weekend nights drunk in dirty fraternity basements before scrambling to finish homework on Sundays? How could I justify spending hard-earned dollars meant for tuition and living costs on frivolous pieces of college culture like flair?

How could I face my parents if I ended up with mediocre grades and limited job prospects?

It seemed excessive to interrupt a lighthearted conversation with my thoughts, so I remained silent.

When our check finally came, it was split evenly and there was a mistake in the charging. I was going to pay almost twice what I had expected.

I looked down at the bill, thought about the post-tip amount and felt a pang of guilt ­— my parents could

stretch that total for at least a few days’ dinner. What’s more, prior to college, I could have counted the number of times I had paid tips on my meals on one hand. The other four laughed off the mistake. “Let’s just go, it’s fine.”

I wanted to say something, but the service had been slow and the others were looking at me impatiently. Still silent, I paid my portion of the bill and wondered if Dartmouth would always be like this — meeting people who couldn’t understand my concerns and what this school meant for me.

I never shared my struggles to fit into Dartmouth culture or my constant guilt with my parents because I was afraid that if they knew the truth they would feel crushed that their enormous sacrifices weren’t being appreciated. Instead, I constructed snippets of success. I told them about making diverse friends, I told them about cool classes and I told them about getting an impressive freshman internship and being awarded funding. I created a happy façade for them, corralling my more honest thoughts into class issue-based campus activism.

Little by little, though, Dartmouth began to socialize me into privilege.

The changes were small at first.

I started having regular meals in town. I started going out more frequently, working campus jobs and buying tutus and shark hats.

My liberal arts education led me into classes that challenged me to think more critically and taught me to value intellectual conversations about society, politics and current issues. I went on an foreign study program, travelled to different cities and learned the intrinsic value of art and culture from this new world. I absorbed the way my peers — usually from privileged backgrounds — carried themselves. I learned the way they talked and listened in on enough conversations about family ski vacations, travel, boarding schools and upper-middle class culture to pick up the language and the social cues. I spoke less to my parents. I spoke more about gender and race, contemplating my identity and future aspirations. The College and the people I surrounded myself with made it hard to remember the culture I had grown up in and subconsciously eased me into norms of a more privileged class.

Many terms later, class became an unspoken part of my identity that I celebrated through activism, but

CHERRY HUANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Cheng discusses being “eased into norms of a more privileged class” at Dartmouth.

was nonetheless a part that had ceased to weigh down upon me as heavily as it did, freshman fall.

I noticed a difference during winter break after junior fall, when I was inevitably asked again, “How is Dartmouth?” I’ve never wanted to answer, but this time, my reason felt strange. I wanted to answer, but I didn’t want to answer in the way I had always done. I wanted to engage in conversations with my parents about personal identity, about power dynamics and gendered spaces. I wanted to share critiques of art museums I had gone to, extend classroom discussions on gentrification and ask them what they thought of the way the American government produced environmental policy. I wanted to tell them about all that I had seen, all that I had done and all the things that were now important and fascinating to me — and I couldn’t. I was afraid that they wouldn’t understand, if my parents saw the truth about who I was now, they would

feel crushed that their sacrifices had produced this bizarre, pretentious stranger concerned with completely impractical considerations of the world, who had used tuition money to city-hop in Europe.

So instead, I again shared snippets of success with them — I’ve made new friends, I’m interning at an investment bank in the winter, I did really well in my fall classes.

They were impressed by my dedication to post-graduate plans and to my academic achievements. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that those two things that they valued so much — the reason why they sent me to Dartmouth — were usually the least of my concerns. I didn’t want to reveal the asymmetry between the person I had grown up as and the person I had become over my two and a half years at Dartmouth. So I remained silent and wondered if the cost of life after Dartmouth would always be this — returning to a home and a family with whom I could never truly share myself.