VOL. CLXXV NO. 106
PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 42 LOW 25
FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2019
Early decision applications increase B y MARY WINTERS The Dartmouth
OPINION
ELLIS: NONPROFIT, NOT POSSIBLE PAGE 4
VERBUM ULTIMUM: TALK LESS, DO MORE PAGE 4
Henry Mans ’23 wanted to go to college in a small town connected to nature. A recently-accepted student from Edina, Minnesota, Mans said that Dartmouth was his first choice school because of its size, location and academic strength. “It was big for me to be in a more rural place,” he said. “If I decide I want to be in a city, I have the rest of my life to do that, but it’s harder to live in a rural place later in life.” On Dec. 13, Dartmouth admitted 574 members into the Class of 2023 through early decision, up from 565 last year. This year there was a record 2,474 applicants, 23.2 percent of
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B y SAVANNAH ELLER
Dartmouth community members will be able to use Google applications through their official College accounts following a recent decision to offer Google’s G Suite campuswide. According to College vice president and chief information o f f i c e r M i t c h D av i s, t h e
Undergraduate advisors express job dissatisfaction
MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Over a dozen UGAs spoke to The Dartmouth with concerns about their compensation levels.
B y ELIZABETH JANOWSKI The Dartmouth Staff
College will adopt Google’s G Suite The Dartmouth
ARTS
whom were accepted. This was a nine percent increase in the number of applicants compared to last year. The accepted students will make up approximately 48 percent of the Class of 2023. The group of newly admitted students includes 138 recruited athletes and 25 students who applied through QuestBridge, a platform which connects lowincome students with institutions of higher education. Additionally, 119 of the accepted students are projected to be valedictorians or salutatorians of their high school class.
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decision to offer Google applications was informed by the expressed interest of faculty members. Davis said that after the College chose Office 365 — Microsoft’s suite of online tools — as its official platform in 2011, some faculty continued using Google applications. “Many faculty members SEE GOOGLE PAGE 2
Fourteen undergraduate advisors, from those who work in upperclassman and first-year residences to those who reside in Living Learning Communities, have voiced a variety of complaints against the Office of Residential Life that they are not adequately compensated for training and weekly responsibilities and that the ORL has not been adequately responsive to their concerns. T he g roup consists of 10 UGAs from the Class of 2021 and four upperclassman UGAs who
have held their position for two or more years. A majority have been UGAs for LLCs or first-year floors or both. Several requested anonymity due to concerns about job security. I n p a r t i c u l a r, t h e majority of the UGAs interviewed pointed out that they do not receive additional compensation for being on campus to attend training one week before the start of First-Year Orientation, compared to their peers who are hired in the winter and who undergo a much shorter training period. During the fall training
period, sessions can last from around 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Several UGAs argued that either training could be condensed down to just a few days without losing any substantial information or experiences, or that they should be compensated for the extra time they have to spend on campus away from their families. Many UGAs took issue with training activities that they felt had no relevance to their jobs, such as a scavenger hunt or an overnight camping SEE UGA PAGE 3
Study looks at Veterans Health Administration services B y LUCY TURNIPSEED The Dartmouth
Veterans around the country should give more consideration to the Veterans Health Administration’s services when choosing where to receive medical care, according to a recent study on the merits of VHA and non-VHA facilities
published in the Annals of Internal Medicine at the end of 2018. Researchers from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and the White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center worked on the study. TDI professor William Weeks who also teaches psychiatry
and community and family medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine and Alan West ’72 from the White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center were the primary authors. The study follows many recent projects on the same subject, using large, cross-section samples of patients in and outside of
the VHA system to reach its findings. “We wanted to take a closer look at local health care markets and specific health conditions because if you’re a veteran deciding where to seek treatment, what you’re really concerned with are the outcomes at your local VA,” Weeks said.
Weeks said he saw a problem with previous VHA studies, explaining that the large scale was not helpful to veterans seeking a facility in their own health care markets. “It’s like reviews of your local Chipotle [Mexican Grill] and Chili’s [Grill and Bar] — SEE VETERANS PAGE 2
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Gmail will soon come to Study looks at veteran health facilities campus in limited form FROM VETERANS PAGE 1
FROM GOOGLE PAGE 1
wanted to stay on Google platforms and it was kind of a riff in the faculty between the academic side and the administrative side,” he said. After coming to the College 18 months ago, Davis started collecting feedback from faculty and students about the possibility of expanding G Suite for use across campus. According to him, many faculty members were already using personal accounts on Google Docs and some collaborative Google applications. Rolling out in early January, the G Suite for Education line of tools includes Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Sheets and dozens of other applications available through the G Suite Marketplace. Each student and faculty member will have the choice of maintaining their current Office 365 applications or transitioning to G Suite. The suite will include Google’s core educational applications with stronger privacy terms and conditions and no consumertargeted ads. Users will be able to contact the information technology and consulting help desk in Baker-Berry Library for technical support. T he T hayer School of Engineering — which chose to keep Google as its applications platform in 2011 — is helping with the G Suite roll-out. “[Thayer] did a lot of the work already, so we’re just listening to them as to how it should be done,” Davis said. Gmail will also be coming to the College in limited form this term. According to Susan Kelley, infrastructure services director at Dartmouth’s ITC department, a small pilot program will open for faculty and a few students who have expressed interest in using Gmail. Gmail’s limited debut will help ITC solve any issues with the email application ahead of a wider campus release, Kelley said, adding that the ITC team will be monitoring mail routing and helping new Gmail users forward Outlook mail to their new accounts. “You have to do it carefully, but it is definitely doable,” she said. The ITC department will also
have to guide users with conflicting accounts — personal accounts created with a Dartmouth email address — through the process of reconciling their addresses. Over 700 accounts could be affected by conflicting addresses, according to Kelley’s estimation. The roll-out of G Suite has also run into some issues, according to Davis. He said he planned to debut the platform for fall term, but found some G Suite programs might not be compatible with Geisel School of Medicine and Tuck Business School faculty and student needs. At Geisel, certain G Suite applications do not meet Health I n s u r a n c e Po r t a b i l i t y a n d Accountability Act regulations for patient privacy. Those applications, including YouTube, had to be removed from the Geisel suite. At Tuck, the popular Office 365 collaboration platform SharePoint is not compatible with Google. Departments across campus will now need to choose which platform to use, according to Kelley. She said that the decision will be on a case-by-case basis, depending on which applications would be most useful. “ We e x p e c t t h a t a t t h e departmental level they’ll start to make decisions about whether things are working well on the Office 365 side or whether there’s a lot of interest in that department to move to Google,” Kelley said. Adam Nemeroff, a learning designer at ITC responsible for helping faculty integrate technology in the classroom, said that the G Suite might allow professors to collaborate with their students more effectively than using Office 365 programs or the Canvas learning management system. “The G Suite collection of tools is really helpful at ... filling the gap where Canvas might start to do certain things as far as being a tool in the classroom, but doesn’t operate so well,” Nemeroff said. Kelley said she was optimistic that G Suite will take hold on campus, possibly supplanting Office 365 as the dominant provider over time. “There will definitely be some confusion over the fact that we have both platforms, but I think it will be far more a win for the community than a negative,” she said.
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
you don’t care about their national reputations, you care about how the Chipotle [Mexican Grill] down the street is,” he said. The study used the most recently posted, publicly available data from Hospital Compare, a consumeroriented website that is part of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Researchers focused on 121 local health care markets that included both VA and non-VA health facility options. The study focused on the outcomes of patients with four common diseases: acute myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and pneumonia, as well as 11 different patient safety indicators, such as death among patients with serious treatable complications after surgery. These data sets were readily available for researchers to analyze. “Our findings suggest that, despite some recent negative reports, the VA generally provides truly excellent care,” Weeks said. The outcome of the VA providing consistently better local care came as a surprise, he added. VA Secretary Robert Wilkie described the conclusions of the research as “proof that the hard work
and dedication of our VA employees is making a real difference in the lives of our nation’s Veterans,” which is a sentiment Weeks shared. A study done in 2015 on the same subject, authored in part by RAND Corporation adjunct policy researcher Claire O’Hanlon, reached the same conclusion. “We found that the VA health system performed better than or similar to other health care systems in providing safe and effective care, although there were some exceptions,” O’Hanlon said. As its data bank, the team used MEDLINE’s cache of biomedical literature on the topic from the last decade. “Despite problems and bad press, the VA has been doing a pretty good job,” West said. “But much better controlled studies will be needed to draw strong conclusions.” However, the recent study did find some indications, within a few particularly positive statistics posted onto Hospital Compare by VA centers, that differences in data reporting between VA and non-VA health facilities may exist. If reporting differences are real, the researchers suggest that VA center employees re-calculate the data
submitted to Hospital Compare and closely analyze outputs in the future, so that the information consumers consult when considering where to seek health services will be more accurate. “The VA health care system is one of the largest integrated health systems in the country, providing health care to over six million veterans annually,” O’Hanlon said. She noted that the public should keep in mind that individuals who receive care from the VA are generally “a lot sicker” than individuals with similar demographic characteristics in the general population. Additionally, while Wilkie lauded the progress made within the VA under the Trump administration, he disagreed with a key component of the study — that the VHA outsourcing to non-VA hospitals should be reconsidered. There is currently legislation in the works that would move the VHA further toward privatization, of which Weeks has long been a proponent. However, he warns that this move should be done carefully, with close attention paid to what actually needs to be outsourced, such as the particular services that different VHA centers cannot provide. “The VA needs to look at what they do well and focus on that,” Weeks said.
Admissions cycle sees more diversity FROM ED PAGE 1
The admissions office expects a 96 percent yield among students accepted through early decision, meaning they will occupy about 550 of the projected 1,150 seats in the Class of 2023. The Class of 2022 matriculated 1,166 students, down from 1,279 in the Class of 2021. Vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid Lee Coffin said that a few factors likely contributed to the increase in applicants this year. “It’s … my third year now, so my leadership of [the admissions office] is more in place,” Coffin said. “This cycle that we’re in is the first one where a lot of the new initiatives [such as outreach highlighting excellence in teaching] that I introduced a couple years ago have been fully implemented.” Coffin added that a web redesign probably contributed to the increase in applications. “That’s been generating a lot of traffic, and we’re seeing students following along and saying, ‘I like these people I’m meeting at Dartmouth,’ and so that’s been exciting to see as well,” he said. Additionally, the admissions office has expanded its geographic outreach to include schools in a wider range of regions, Coffin said. Coffin himself traveled to Norway, which ultimately provided two early
decision admits from Norway. “You never see [early decision] admits from Norway,” he said. “So that’s been another dimension in this process. It’s becoming more pluralized in a lot of different ways.” The Class of 2023 is also more diverse than previous classes, according to Coffin. Coffin said that a decade or two ago a much larger portion of applicants came from the Northeast, had attended private schools and had come from affluent families, but that the applications are becoming much more diverse in terms of economic status. Coffin said that MyinTuition, a new net price calculator adopted last year which allows applicants to estimate the cost of one year at Dartmouth, probably allowed for a more socioeconomically diverse pool of applicants. “It gives families a really simple, clear way of saying, ‘Based on these personal factors, this is what Dartmouth, in this interpretation, would likely give me by way of a scholarship,’” he said. “It’s giving people more confidence to say, ‘This is my first choice and I don’t need to be worried about the financial aid dynamic.’” The increased socioeconomic diversity of the new class can also be seen in the high number of students who will likely be eligible for Pell Grants. Thirteen percent of the 574 accepted
students are projected to be eligible for Pell Grants, which is a record for the early decision round at Dartmouth. Isabelle Kitchel ’23, an accepted s t u d e n t f ro m P h i l a d e l p h i a , Pennsylvania,saidshechoseDartmouth because of the wide range of activities and programs the school offers. “I chose Dartmouth because of the variety of programs that I could pursue such as the terms abroad in Lyon or Toulouse, the [Tuck] Bridge Program and activities on campus like the [Dartmouth] Outing Club,” Kitchel said. She is also looking forward to the flexibility offered by the D-Plan. “Nowhere else other than Dartmouth could I do all of these things and still have the space and resources to discover more,” Kitchel said. Abigail Johnson ’23, an accepted student from Andover, Massachusetts, said the undergraduate focus, supportive community and location of Dartmouth appealed to her. “I do not know what I want to major in, so I wanted a school where I could easily explore many subject areas and connect with professors,” Johnson said. Outside of academics, Johnson said she is looking forward to enjoying the outdoors and the traditions Dartmouth offers. “I also love to hike and be outside, so the location and the DOC were big factors as well,” she said.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2019
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
UGAs voice complaints over compensation Cabrera said. However, Allison Green ’19, trip, and other UGAs emphasized who has also been a UGA for that training for UGAs in the winter over two years, said she enjoyed term only lasts one day. Moreover, the communications-oriented some UGAs discussed their desire to experience, also called the “Behind see training become more oriented Closed Doors” exercise, during her around cultivating relationships UGA training. with their residents. “It’s one of the coolest things “I was abroad this summer, which we do during training,” Green means I had said. “We go through to go right “They have a huge potential situations to training that might happen waitlist and a lot of without on our floor, and b e i n g students want to be we can learn how able to go to respond to them a UGA, which is why home,” one in situations where UGA said it’s so competitive and we’re surrounded during fall demanding on us.” by fellow UGAs so term. “I we feel safer making didn’t get mistakes and we to see my -UNDERGRADUATE know better if we f a m i l y at actually encounter ADVISOR all, and I’m those situations.” beginning Associate dean to feel that of residential life more as the a n d d i re c t o r o f term goes residential education on.” Mike Wooten noted that the ORL Victor Cabrera ’19, who has has put in a lot of thought about been a UGA since his sophomore UGA training. fall, echoed the sentiments of his “We certainly think a lot about peers. training and the balance of the “I think training should focus amount of time we spend on that,” more on underscoring the fact that Wooten said. “It’s certainly not a we are peer mentors, not overseers,” new question.” FROM UGA PAGE 1
Several of the UGAs said the compensation they received was an insufficient reflection of their work. While the ORL suggests UGAs set aside 20 hours per week for their jobs, many said that their hours extended far beyond this expectation. UGAs must be on call, attend mandatory staff meetings, organize programming for their floors and manage tasks such as maintaining their floor’s bulletin board. UGAs have become more integral to community building at Dartmouth since the advent of Moving Dartmouth Forward, one UGA said. “I like how important the job has become on campus,” one upperclassman UGA said. “The only thing is that the pay hasn’t changed, even though the responsibilities do.” The UGAs called particular attention to the disparity in workloads among upperclassmen, first-year and LLC UGAs. “Being in an LLC with first-years is by far the most work, because you have to meet the demands of your LLC — which operates outside the ORL — so you don’t get compensated for that,” another UGA said. The standard compensation for a
term as a UGA is $2,000, as well as credit to their meal plan equivalent to the cost of the SmartChoice 5. Returning UGAs receive an additional $100 as part of their stipend. Another UGA for a freshman LLC said that she believed it was strange all UGAs are paid the same amount despite vast differences in their roles’ demands. “I’m an upperclassmen UGA, so my residents really only reach out to me if they’re having issues with their rooms or the floor,” one UGA said. “On the other hand, [for] the freshmen UGAs I know, their residents normally talk to them more, they have more questions, they’re more engaged with their UGA. And then LLC UGAs, especially in affinity houses — they’re also responsible for taking care of the house.” The UGAs of first-year and LLC floors often spoke of their workload as especially burdensome because they must stay later after staff meetings, hold more responsibilities as mentors to their residents and are more firmly expected to build bonds with each resident on their floor. They asked that the ORL acknowledge the differences in UGAs’ responsibilities depending on their positions and that they be
paid accordingly. Wooten acknowledged a slight discrepancy in UGA workloads. “Their jobs are different from a programming perspective, but I think they’re very similar in terms of their work,” Wooten said. “That is, being part of a network of care, referring students to other resources on campus, their Title IX work and so on.” Wooten noted that the prospect of paying certain UGAs more than others is not “a very good idea as of now.” “I’m confident that [the UGAs] are all being compensated at this point with what we can compensate them,” he said. Some of the interviewed UGAs also voiced concerns about raising these complaints to the ORL, lest they fail to be rehired. “They have a huge waitlist and a lot of students want to be a UGA, which is why it’s so competitive and demanding on us,” one UGA said. Some UGAs who are on financial aid noted that their abilities to speak out are particularly stifled by their dependency on their jobs as a source of income. “Being a UGA is really important to me because I need the money — I’m from a low-income family and I need this job,” one UGA said.
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THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2019
STAFF COLUMNIST SIMON ELLIS ’20
VERBUM ULTIMUM THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD
Nonprofit, Not Possible
Talk Less, Do More
Low-income students face challenges in securing off-term opportunities.
Dartmouth women deserve more than empty promises.
The emails seem to roll in on almost a Students must not only find an internship and daily basis, offering thousands of dollars make it through the competitive and stressful to students looking to pursue “design your interview process, they then also have to plan own” internship programs with Dartmouth how to financially support themselves during organizations. Deans, professors and fellow the internship. students encouraged me to apply for This is where the gap for low-income programs with Rauner Library, the Center for students becomes most visible, even for Social Impact, the Dickey paid internships. Many Center, the Rockefeller “Providing a down professional internship Center or even individual programs require students payment for an departments to secure to move to large cities funding for my upcoming apartment, coming up where the cost of living off-term, which I had with a full wardrobe of m a y b e e xo r b i t a n t filled with an internship compared to at home. at a nonprofit law office professional clothing Even if the company in New York. Both the and even daily travel provides some sort of candor with which they “housing allowance,” can all become spoke and the seemingly these usually aren’t issued overwhelming number of roadblocks to the until the first paycheck resources available made success of low-income and even at the end of me feel confident when the internship. Providing applying for funding that students, even in paid a down payment for an was critical to me being opportunities.” apartment, coming up able to take up my offer with a full wardrobe of in Albany. However, not professional clothing and only was I declined funding during the even daily travel can all become roadblocks initial application round, I discovered that to the success of low-income students, even many of my friends who depend on these in paid opportunities. funding sources had also been dismissed — However, this barely scratches the surface highlighting a pernicious consequence of of the issues behind nonprofit internships pursing nonprofit internships. and internships in which students are not Students who come from traditionally low- compensated for their work. Not only must income communities often lack the means to they secure internship offers, they then must support themselves in nonprofit professional figure out how they will pay for living expenses internships. The competitiveness for funding and other costly financial burdens associated and overall lack of opportunities further with working a full-time internship with no pay. complicate low-income students’ abilities to Without meaningful and accessible funding remain competitive career wise. Dartmouth’s sources, income immediately creates an often unique quarter system is often lauded for insurmountable barrier for students wishing allowing students the opportunity to pursue to pursue nonprofit opportunities. internships not traditionally available to other With the number of hurdles in front of college students, but the D-Plan can also low-income students and Dartmouth’s failure add immense pressure on students to find a to provide sufficient and accessible financial professional internship during their off-terms. support during off-terms, nonprofit internships A 2017 survey conducted by the Center for become unattainable for many students, and Professional Development noted that 92 only serve to further exacerbate financial percent of Dartmouth’s Class of 2017 had inequality. To future employers, when reading at least one off-term internship during their a student’s resume, please don’t consider a lack time as an undergraduate, highlighting the of volunteer hours or nonprofit experience expectation that students find these internships as an unwillingness to do so, but rather the and participate in them as often as possible. possibly of a financial inability to do so.
This year, Dartmouth celebrates 250 years in the financial support it has received from since its founding. On Jan. 10, the College will alumnae, and through the capital campaign, kick off a series of events commemorating its the College sought $25 million from female anniversary and honoring its longstanding donors. The magnitude of the potential loss legacy. These events highlight moments of in donations to the College is not yet clear, pride throughout the College’s history — but the lawsuit serves as a wake-up call for academic milestones, building blocks for the Dartmouth — its efforts to combat sexual Dartmouth education students know today violence on campus must escalate, if not (both in the expansion of opportunities and because women in this community deserve in the expansion of groups to which those better, then because the College stands to lose opportunities have been made available) and far more than just their support. memorable achievements by members of the Dartmouth was the last Ivy League Dartmouth community across the globe. For university to admit women, and in the the most part, these celebrations are well- decades since, the College has stood witness earned. Dartmouth has and continues to offer to a pervasive and deeply-rooted culture of a valuable and rewarding education to its gender-based violence and sexual harassment. students. Faculty members remain committed The experiences of Dartmouth women have to teaching and to nurturing students’ not been the same as those of Dartmouth personal and intellectual development. And men, and the College has so far done little many alumni go on to lead successful lives, more than watch from the sidelines. The often bettering their communities aided by 250th anniversary is not just an occasion to the foundations they cemented while at the celebrate where Dartmouth has flourished. It College, their experiences on campus and is also an opportunity to take a decisive stance the bonds they formed with one another. But and implement radical reforms — from the while Dartmouth deserves to cherish these judicial process through which sexual assault successes, it ought not to ignore its failures. survivors seek recourse, to the institutions on The recent lawsuit filed against Dartmouth campus that enable sexual assault in the first sheds light on some of those failures. On place. The vast majority of sexual assault Nov. 15, seven women filed a $70 million survivors on college campuses do not report federal class action against the College, their assaults, and Dartmouth is no different. alleging that Dartmouth turned a blind eye It is imperative that this campus becomes one to more than 16 years of sexual harassment in which survivors feel safe to come forward, and assault by three former professors in the but more importantly, in which this violence psychological and brain sciences department. ceases to occur. The lawsuit attested to a toxic departmentThe first step is adopting a greater sense of wide culture that normalized sexual violence, accountability. Dartmouth is arguably ahead of ostensibly fostered by former professors Todd peer institutions in framing guidelines, crafting Heatherton, William policies and developing Kelley and Paul Whalen. an infrastructure to hear The plaintiffs likened “Tangible reform and support survivors. the PBS department to means taking a close However, the College has “a 21st century Animal fallen short in actually and honest look at House” and detailed their enforcing its plans. experiences with repeated Dartmouth’s current Moving onward, the s e x u a l h a r a s s m e n t , process, patching solution is not to add assault and misconduct. more committees, declare The women claim that loopholes and more “sweeping” plans Dartmouth knew about rigorously enforcing or hide behind vaguelythis conduct, that the w o r d e d c a m p a i g n s. College’s Title IX office the policies this Tangible reform means violated their rights and administration claims taking a close and honest that the “hostile academic to stand behind.” look at Dartmouth’s environment” to which current process, patching they were subjected loopholes and rigorously caused them irreparable personal and enforcing the policies this administration professional harm, though the College disputes claims to stand behind. If the allegations these claims. in the lawsuit are true, the College needs to The lawsuit brought into question investigate the practices of its Title IX office Dartmouth’s judicial process and practices and ensure that those who come forward are concerning sexual assault on campus. immune from the privacy and confidentiality Members of the Dartmouth community violations alleged by the plaintiffs. More pledged support toward the plaintiffs, and generally, this means ensuring that all survivors many alumni say they are considering or are treated equally, and that all perpetrators have already decided to withhold financial are punished equally — regardless of whether support from the College until it institutes they are students or faculty, and regardless of meaningful reform. These allegations come at their background, gender and socioeconomic a particularly precarious time for Dartmouth’s or legacy status. fundraising efforts. The Call to Lead capital The College must also re-examine its campaign, which seeks to raise $3 billion in process for granting tenure. Faculty members’ funding, lists the involvement of female donors track to tenure ought to depend not just on their as a specific goal. Dartmouth has taken pride SEE VERBUM ULTIMUM PAGE 6
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
DARTMOUTHEVENTS TODAY
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Student Job Fair, sponsored by Human Resources, Paganucci Lounge, Class of 1953 Commons
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Sing-Ins, Paddock Music Library, Hopkins Center for the Arts
8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Public Astronomical Observing, sponsored by the physics department, Shattuck Observatory
10:00 p.m. - 12:15 a.m.
Collis After Dark: Mentalist Brian Imbus, Common Ground, Collis Center
TOMORROW 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Women’s Hockey vs. Princeton, Thompson’s Arena
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Film: “Free Solo,” directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Spaulding Auditorium
10:00 p.m. - 1:30 a.m.
Collis After Dark: Pub Trivia and Bingo, One Wheelock, Collis Center FROM VERBUM ULTIMUM PAGE 4
academic achievements, but also on the environments they create for their students. And the administration must ensure that all faculty members are incentivized to monitor the culture they create and enable within their departments, and that they feel compelled to share concerns without fear of repercussion. Going forward, Dartmouth needs to actively inspect the academic and social institutions that allow sexual violence to remain so entrenched, and it must not give in to pressure from those who would prefer that those institutions remain untouched. The pace of change at Dartmouth has been largely lethargic, and in some sense that is understandable. Many alumni cherish Dartmouth as it was during their time, being reluctant to see its traditions and institutions uprooted. And the educational opportunities made available by the College’s endowment depend upon continued donations from the alumni community.
However, the alumni community to which the College caters now will not be the same in a decade or two, when the 250th graduating class will be called upon to contribute. Dartmouth cannot afford to be myopic — if the College refuses to take a strong stance on the issues this class, and future classes, care about, it may not see another 250 years added to its history. As the College advances the Call to Lead campaign to support future generations of Dartmouth students, it should lead by example. This community has a responsibility to go beyond acknowledging Dartmouth’s flaws — it must correct them, and it must give future students reasons to cherish their alma mater in the same way its current alumni will celebrate it this year. The College calls for leadership — it ought to show it first. The editorial board consists of opinion staff columnists, the opinion editors, both executive editors and the editor-in-chief.
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
Review: ‘Bandersnatch’ opens up new possibilities for stories B y JOYCE LEE
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
I’ll be the first to admit it — I am not a gamer. I don’t know much about any specific kind of game, about the world of gaming or of gamers in general. In my rather narrowly-construed mind, video games have been limited to the chaotic fantasy reality of multiplayer games such as “World of Warcraft,” or the brutally one-note first person shooting games à la “Call of Duty.” I know, I apologize. But if there is one thing “Bandersnatch” — the “Black Mirror” film (episode? game?) that premiered on Netflix last week — has done definitively right, it was to demonstrate to non-gamers like me that the arena of storytelling has expanded. Where there were dramas, operas, novels, film and now the golden age of television, the digital possibilities of the 21st century now include games — more specifically, games with narratives that include the viewers themselves as characters. The fourth wall is gone. “Bandersnatch” introduces viewers to the rather ordinary world (as opposed to the previous futuristic episodes of “Black Mirror”) of the U.K. in 1984, where a young gamemaker named Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) is attempting to create
a choose-your-own path video person harming someone they love game based on a choose-your-own- due to their illness. adventure novel. As a character, If “Bandersnatch” had been Stefan is not particularly fresh simply just one of the episodes or riveting; he’s a bit twitchy, in the “Black Mirror” seasons, traumatized by the death of nothing about it might have actually his mother and stood out. It’s a genius who “It’s the ability to the ability to becomes a little dictate all of too invested in dictate all of these these endings, his own creation. endings, to see to s ee th em T h e m o s t them evolve due to evolve due to interesting thing the viewer’s own about him is that the viewer’s own participation in he’s controlled participation in the the show, that by the viewer makes all of show, that makes all — and he, in them sit rather turn, questions of them sit rather uneasily with his own free will uneasily with the the viewer by and who exactly the end. is controlling viewer by the end.” Initially, the him. decisions Stefan As either a m a k e s a r e film or television episode, it’s miniscule — should he eat Frosted hard to say that there is anything Flakes or Sugar Puffs? But the viewer about the plot or characters of is soon confronted with whether or “Bandersnatch” that makes it not he should work on his game especially good, in whatever way at the site of a large video game the word “good” can be interpreted. development company, alongside The narratives are not particularly his hero and revered gamemaker new or engaging — whether it’s a Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), or work genius going slowly insane in his on it alone. room in pursuit of the impossible, This begins a series of lifeor someone’s life turning out to be altering choices that eventually an experiment dictated by some spiral into bad decision or worse omniscient, evil government agency decision — and it’s here where the or even a toxic story of a mentally-ill film stops feeling like a film, and
instead begins to feel like an actual game. As a viewer of “Black Mirror,” I usually begin each episode in anticipation of the terrible situations that await the protagonist. But with “Bandersnatch,” I felt compelled to lead Stefan to a perfectly clear objective: a five-star rating of his game on a TV show that is first introduced once Stefan is directed to create his game at the company. With this decision, the episode abruptly ends with a zero star rating of his game, rerouting back to the scene where Stefan is asked if he would prefer to work at the company. This time, I make him say no. There’s a lot of questions to ask with this sequence alone: Was the choice to say no really a choice? Are the subsequent decisions actually decisions or a force propelling him toward various terrible endings? Perhaps most interesting, is the objective of a five-star rating selfinduced by the viewer or demanded by the film’s creators? What the viewer wants — what I want — as the ending is simultaneously crucial and irrelevant to the creation of the actual endings. The viewer makes the decisions toward a specific plotline, but it doesn’t really matter if these decisions are made in the best interest of Stefan; the film seems determined to end with him crazy,
in jail, or dead. Even the most meta, fourth-wall breaking ending has Stefan — or his actor — standing in the middle of the “Black Mirror” set, unsure of his reality. Ultimately, this is the “twist” infamously associated with “Black Mirror.” Netflix is real in at least one of the plotlines of this film, and the characters become victims of the viewers themselves. Yet the viewers are sometimes left with no choice; the technology in front of us only presents two bad options, and there doesn’t seem to be a way out. In the tech-obsessed universe of “Black Mirror,” there’s a grimy, sickening feeling that comes from seeing how the futuristic technology of the television series — a technology that’s only a few years away in the real world — becomes perverse and destructive. Even the name of the show adds to this feeling; black mirror refers to the darkened reflective screens of our phones and computers, signaling how the show intends to serve as the darkened mirror for our reality. With “Bandersnatch,” the show goes a step further. The future is no longer coming; it’s here, and it’s changing the way people interact with fictional characters, with the age-old tradition of storytelling itself.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
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W HOCKEY VS QUINNIPIAC 6 P.M.
Dartmouth hockey splits games 1-1 at 30th Ledyard Classic
By ADDISON DICK
Jeff Losurdo [’22],” O’Connor said, “They’re really good about moving the puck, and we play really well together. The men’s hockey team entered It’s good to be able to contribute.” The second game of the Ledyard the 30th annual Ledyard Classic tournament looking to start the second Classic for the Big Green was the half of the season on the right note after championship game of the tournament finishing the first half of the 2018-19 against the Providence Friars, a topseason with three straight losses. The 10 team in the country. Dartmouth appeared to be up to the challenge early, team came out with a 1-1 record. The four-team tournament, which as the Big Green finished the first period included the Big Green as well as with a 2-1 lead. The Friars, however, the United States Military Academy, scored four goals in under four minutes Brown University and Providence in the second period to pull away. “We had a really good weekend, College, was held at Thompson Arena aside from about 10 minutes against on Dec. 29 and 30. For Dartmouth, the Ledyard Providence,” O’Connor said. Clark echoed a similar sentiment as Classic came following a two-week break. Starting goalie Adrian Clark his teammate. “We learned a lot playing against ’20 believed the team’s break could not Providence,” Clark said. “We only have come at a better time. “We finished the first half of the played about 55 minutes of that game, season with three straight losses, so I and it wasn’t enough to win. We need think it was a really well-timed break to play a full 60 and that will be our key to success going forward.” for us,” Clark said. The Big Green finished the first Forward Drew O’Connor ’22 appreciated the opportunity to half of the season with a 4-6-1 record. All four wins came play in the against teams with tour nament winning records a n d f a c e “We learned a lot at the time, and tough non- playing against all four of those conference Providence. We only teams currently sit opposition. in the top 25 of the “ I t w a s played about 55 Pairwise rankings, good to get in a minutes of that game, used to determine couple of nonwhich teams make c o n f e r e n c e and it wasn’t enough to the national g ames and win. We need to play a tournament. head into the full 60 and that will be Clark is happy second half of the season, our key to success going with the team’s performance in where we play forward.” its wins, but notes a lot of ECAC that consistency games,” will be necessary O ’ C o n n o r -ADRIAN CLARK ’20, moving forward. said. MEN’S HOCKEY GOALIE “That record The team shows that we’re showed little able to step up our signs of rust play and rise to the in the opening game, defeating Army 5-2. After occasion, so it’s a really good sign that Army opened the scoring in the third we have the skills and tools necessary,” minute of the game, O’Connor quickly Clark said. “We just need to figure out responded with his sixth goal of the how to get the other wins against teams season, and the Big Green never looked not ranked and lower in the standings.” In his first full year as starting goalie back. “It was pretty exciting to be out for the Big Green, Clark believes that there,” O’Connor said. “We played consistency is something he will need to work on to be successful between the really good hockey.” Only a freshman, O’Connor is tied pipes. “Playing back-to-back games on for the team lead in goals with Quin Foreman ’21. O’Connor attributes his a weekend has been tough,” he said. “It’s been tough to come back the success to his linemates. “I play with a couple of really second night after a win or loss, just to good players, Carl Hesler [’18] and try to not get my head too high or low. The Dartmouth Staff
MICHAEL LIN / THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The men’s hockey team finished 1-1 at the 30th Ledyard Classic, defeating Army 5-2 but falling to Providence 5-3.
I think it’s a big thing for our team to find consistency and play a good game of hockey on both nights.” Reflecting on the team’s first half of the season, O’Connor was optimistic despite the overall record. “We had some ups and downs,” O’Connor said. “Every game we’ve lost, we have been right there. We should be set for a pretty good second half of the season.” The team is hoping to use the first half of season to succeed in the remainder of ECAC conference play, which resumes next weekend. “We’ve had some really good wins and shown that we are able to play,” Clark said. “I think we need to put it all together. Coming up, we’ve got a couple big weekends where we’ve got league points on the line.” The Big Green will be on the road the next three weekends, including a final non-conference game against Bentley University this Saturday. Dartmouth will hope to avenge a 5-1 loss to the Falcons last year. “We hope to get a win there and build some momentum going into the conference games,” O’Connor says. Following the game against Bentley, the Big Green will have four consecutive conference matchups on the road,
including games in tough environments O’Connor said. “I think we can against Cornell University and compete with any team in our Quinnipiac conference, so it University. should be a good “We had some ups and “Those are second half.” really good downs. Every game Despite a teams,” Clark we’ve lost, we have losing record in says. “We have non-conference won against been right there. We play and being good teams should be set for a ranked 42nd in the before, so we rankings, pretty good second half Pairwise just need to Dartmouth rise to the of the season.” currently sits occasion and third in the ECAC play an entire standings through -DREW O’CONNOR ’22. 60 minutes.” seven conference O’Connor MEN’S HOCKEY FORWARD games. says the team Clark is needs to get looking forward off to good to resuming starts in the conference play upcoming following the final road games. non-conference contest on Saturday. “That’s kind of where we have “We haven’t done great in nonstruggled a bit this year, so I think being conference games, which isn’t the worst ready to go from the start of the game thing because they don’t count toward is important for us,” O’Connor said. league play, but they are important O’Connor has hope that the Big because of momentum,” Clark said. Green’s non-conference schedule will “Hopefully, we can come out, play help the team make a run in conference a really good game, and use some play. momentum for the next two weekends, “The non-conference games where the games really matter for prepared us well the last few weeks,” playoffs and standings.”