The Dartmouth 01/09/2020

VOL. CLXXVI NO. 111

SUNNY HIGH 19 LOW 13

ARTS

JEWELRY STUDIO PROVES TO BE AN ACCESSIBLE HIDDEN GEM ON CAMPUS PAGE 5

OPINION

MAGANN: LESSONS IN DISASTER PAGE 6

HILL-WELD: RICH KID SPORTS PAGE 7

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020

Dartmouth students Private developer to build new named Marshall, housing for 500 grad students Schwarzman scholars B y EMILY ZHANG The Dartmouth

Delia Friel ’20, Danny Li ’19 and Colleen O’Connor ’19 have been named as 2021 Schwarzman Scholars to study global affairs at Ts i n g h u a U n i ve r s i t y i n Beijing, and Sarah Pearl ’20 has been named a Marshall Scholar to pursue two oneyear master programs at the University of Reading and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

The Marshall Scholarship

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— one of the most competitive post-graduate awards — funds two years of graduate studies in the United Kingdom. This year, 46 scholars of over 1,000 applicants were selected from the United States to participate in this program.

Pearl, an environmental studies and physics double m a j o r, s a i d t h a t s h e is passionate about the intersection between climate change and technology.

SEE SCHOLARSHIPS PAGE 3

Nov. fire destroyed College-owned cabin B y EMILY LU

MALBREAUX: ON ELECTABILITY

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

The Dartmouth Staff

A chimney fire destroyed Hell Gate Gorge Cabin, located on the Second College Grant in northern New Hampshire, late on Nov. 15 and into the early morning hours of Nov. 16. The five occupants at the time, which included 2016 New Hampshire Democratic gubernatorial candidate Colin Van Ostern Tu’09, escaped unharmed.

The Office of Outdoor Programs maintains Hell Gate

Gorge Cabin, a three-room cabin overlooking the lower end of the gorge. OPO cabins are available for use by Dartmouth alumni and employees, as well as their guests.

According to the responding personnel — the fire department of Errol, NH — the fire originated in the chimney pipe and spread to the exterior roof surface. A report on the incident stated that the ignition was unintentional and the source of SEE FIRE PAGE 5

SYDNEY GILLMAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The North Park apartments are one of the few College-owned graduate student housing locations.

B y IOANA ANDRADA PANTELIMON The Dartmouth

Dartmouth recently signed a deal with a private developer to plan and build a 300-unit apartment complex primarily for graduate and professional students on property owned by the College on Mt. Support Road in Lebanon.

The developer, Michaels Student Living, is planning a complex expected to house at least 500 people.

Currently, about 30 percent of Dartmouth’s roughly 2,000 graduate student population l i ve s i n C o l l e g e - ow n e d housing, while the rest must compete for housing in the Upper Valley.

Graduate student council president Curtis Petersen said the GSC has been discussing affordable graduate student housing with the College for years.

“It’s an issue that all graduate and professional students feel is critically important to their education,” Petersen said. “Housing is a huge priority that comes up almost every single council meeting because we have to find our own housing and fund it ourselves from our stipend.”

According to Petersen, the housing demand has left graduate students with few options. “[The] market is completely saturated, and people can charge however much they

want,” Petersen said. “That means we have graduate students who travel an hour and a half to get to class, students who must share rooms or convert non-bedrooms into bedrooms, and students who take out loans to be able to fund themselves.”

A meeting will be arranged with the contractor looking for feedback regarding what graduate and professional students are looking for in housing, according to Petersen.

“It’s unfortunate Dartmouth College hasn’t prioritized graduate student housing in the past, but I think that this is really good opportunity for graduate SEE HOUSING PAGE 5

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Students travel abroad over winter break for experiential programs B y COALTER PALMER The Dartmouth

While the academic ter m concluded for most Dartmouth students by the end of the fall, several classes continued their studies abroad, traveling to various locations across the globe for onthe-ground experiential programs that immersed them in the political, economic and cultural fabric of the countries they visited. A group of economics students ventured to Argentina on a trip sponsored by Dartmouth’s Political Economy Project, and public policy students spent two weeks traversing Europe, conducting research in Greece, Switzerland and Germany.

Students in ECON 70, “Macroeconomics Policy in Latin America: Argentina and Chile,” spent most of their two weeks in Buenos Aires, where they met with prominent government officials, business leaders, academics and nongovernmental organization leaders, according to economics professor Douglas Irwin. Irwin added that students used these meetings as an opportunity to expand on projects that they had drafted in the fall. Economics professor Marjorie Rose said that these projects ranged from studies of the national education system, to investigations of the financing of small and medium enterprises, to labor market regulations and informality. Irwin added that in the weeks leading up to the trip, the students cold-called experts independently to set up in-person meetings.

“We were blown away by the access that they got to high-level business people and academics,” Rose said, citing her students’ persistence as a primary reason for this exclusive access.

The groups were able to coordinate meetings with the deputy minister of

labor, professors and world-leading economists, among others. In addition, students engaged in what Irwin called “economic tourism,” speaking with their cab drivers, as well as workers and management at local shops, cafés, wineries and an olive oil processing plant in order to gain a deeper understanding of the economic situations of everyday situations.

Victoria Meyer ’20 said that she and her peers spent their time researching the Argentinian and Chilean education systems, looking into gaps in education in both countries, examining the debate between public and private education and the problem of unequal access to private schools, and proposing possible ways of creating a more equitable and accessible system.

“It’s a lot easier to understand a country when your feet are on the ground and you’re meeting with people live,” Meyer said.

The class had initially planned to go to the Chilean capital of Santiago, but when violent protests in the city continued into the weeks leading up to winter break, the professors opted to cancel this portion of the trip.

According to Rose and Irwin, the group spent roughly a third of its time in full-group lectures and talks, where they had the opportunity to listen to and engage with prominent figures in Argentinian economics, — namely Federico Sturzenegger, former president of the Argentinian central bank, and Domingo Cavallo, a chief architect of a major economic reform program in Argentina in the 1990s. Despite the cancellation of the Chile trip, students were also able to have a digital conference with Andrés Velasco, Chile’s former finance minister.

While economics students studied emerging markets in South America, students in PBPL 85, “Global Policy

CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.

COURTESY OF PETER CHARALAMBOUS

Students from PBPL 85, “Global Policy Leadership,” traveled across Europe over winter break.

Leadership,” led by government professor Herschel Nachlis, traveled to Europe to investigate international responses to the global financial crisis, Eurozone crisis and the rise of populism across Europe. In Athens, students had group meetings with prominent figures in Greece’s government, meeting with former deputy prime minister Evangelos Venizelos and for mer finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis, in addition to meeting with the director general of Greece’s leading think tank, the vice president of the largest nonprofit in Greece and the chief economist of the Bank of Greece.

After Athens, the group traveled to Frankfurt, Germany where they attended a lecture at the European Central Bank. Additionally, they were able to speak with leading filmmaker Alison Klayman — whose most recent film covered Steve Bannon’s work in mobilizing far-right parties globally — and an official from the International Monetary Fund.

From Frankfurt, the g roup

traveled to Basel, Switzerland to meet with an array of economists from the Bank of International Settlements.

In the final major leg of the trip, the group visited Berlin to visit the Bundestag, Germany’s national parliament, and German television network DW-TV. Throughout the entire trip, the students were also able to meet with a variety of Dartmouth alumni.

“To my mind, there were few things as important as understanding the political, economic and social lessons of the last economic crisis for future generations of policy makers,” Nachlis said.

Of the objectives of the class, Nachlis said that he saw the trip as an “opportunity to hopefully impart some lessons on Dartmouth students, so that when they’re sitting in the seats of the people that dealt with the last crisis 10 or 20 years from now, they can hopefully on the margin improve upon some of the dimensions they learned about.”

Students on the trip said

they came away from the class appreciative of the real-world, firstperson experience the program had to offer.

Bethany Burns ’20 called the trip a great way to better understand the issues discussed in the classroom at a deeper level, and said that the experience helped her “either confirm or complicate some of our previous findings.”

Luke Cuomo ’20 agreed that the trip had enriched his classroom experience, stating that “the class built up to the trip, and then by the time you’re in Europe and talking with people, the picture comes together.”

“You can read and read, but without the first-person experience and the conversations you’re able to have when you go on this trip, there’s a piece missing,” Cuomo said.

As a final deliverable product, students submitted a 128-page memo on their findings, laying out how the financial crisis unfolded and how the countries they visited responded.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Students participate in food justice programs in Puerto Rico B y SOLEIL GAYLORD The Dartmouth

Winter break at Dartmouth is lengthy — in addition to enjoying the holidays, students can use their six-week break to travel around the world, courtesy of various Collegesponsored programs. This past winter break, the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact led a trip to Puerto Rico where students worked with El Departamento de Comida, or the Department of Food, a well-known food justice collective.

Caitlin Rosario Kelly, the program manager for educational access and equity at DCSI, helped organize the trip to Puerto Rico and traveled with the group of 12 Dartmouth undergraduates.

“The three ways we described the key themes were food justice, ecological sustainability and community building,” Kelly said.

Kelly said that food justice reform, particularly in Puerto Rico, was a focus of the trip.

“Food justice refers to the ability of a person to have culturally appropriate access to food,” Kelly said. “People increasingly have to travel more than 30 minutes or take multiple forms of transportation to access healthy food.”

Kelly said that over the course of 10 days, the Dartmouth students on the trip worked on various agricultural service projects alongside local community members. The students traveled and camped throughout the island, visiting two farms, Carite 3.0

and Finca Pajuil, along the way.

“We had an opportunity to do what I call an ecological justice tour of the island,” Kelly said.

Olivia Lovelace ’21 described various service tasks that the group undertook during the trip.

“We worked on projects like planting patchouli, lemongrass and flowers; weeding out invasive species; feeding chickens and horses and adding compost and fertilizer to plants,” Lovelace said.

The group also worked to save seeds — an integral component of food security — planted hay and wheat crops and constructed pollinator gardens, Kelly said.

Alongside service work, the group interacted with local families and communities, often discussing

identity and experience, according to Lovelace.

“We loved the far mers and community partners we got to meet along the way,” Lovelace said.

Savannah Cochran ’20, another member of the group, expressed similar positivity toward the community-like feel of the trip.

“We learned about the history of the land and how it had been passed down through their family,” Cochran said. “We fished, swam and enjoyed delicious meals cooked by a local woman.”

According to Kelly, the DCSI puts special emphasis on community building and collective action — a major theme of the recent trip to Puerto Rico.

The DCSI sponsors similar

immersion trips to domestic and international sites. The DCSI, along with House communities, sponsors two spring break trips; one to Portland, ME where students participate in policy work centered on immigrant rights, and another in New Orleans where students work on housing security. For every immersion trip, a public call is sent out for applications, which are open to all undergraduates.

The selection process for the trip included an application and an interview to best ensure that students would contribute to the cohesiveness of the group, according to Kelly.

“It’s an intensive 10 days of them camping and working and living together, so we try to find folks who are really interested in that community building piece,” Kelly said.

Schwarzman Scholars will study at Tsinghua University in Beijing FROM SCHOLARSHIPS PAGE 1

As a Marshall Scholar, she said she plans to complete a one-year meteorology program at Reading and an environmental change and management program at Oxford.

“I think right now the UK plays a prominent role in international climate change mitigation and policy,” Pearl said. “Also, I love having adventures.”

A t D a r t m o u t h , Pe a rl h a s volunteered with the Growing Change program through the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, where she teaches students about the environment, plants and animals at an elementary school in Vermont. Last summer, she conducted climate research in Alaska at the International Arctic Research Center. For her thesis, she is researching solar geoengineering, which, according to Pearl, attempts to offset temperatures by reflecting solar energy back into space.

“It is a scientific, technological p r o b l e m , b u t a l s o i nv o l v e s gover nment, ethical and philosophical issues,” Pearl said.

Regarding her future goals,

Pearl said she sees many different opportunities, including continuing her research in academia or doing public works in the climate change arena.

“The Marshall program will help me orient myself and get a sense of what my next steps are,” Pearl said. “Building a network of people outside of the U.S. will open international opportunities.”

The Schwarzman scholarship funds a one-year master program of global affairs at the Schwarzman College of Tsinghua University, with courses ranging from leadership to global affairs to Chinese development. For the Class of 2021, 145 Schwarzman Scholars were selected from more than 4,700 applicants and includes students from 41 countries and 108 universities.

Friel, a biomedical engineering major and Spanish minor, said that she is interested in studying how social policy can promote scientific research and health care services.

She said that she looks forward to the Schwarzman scholarship program as an opportunity to continue learning after graduating from

Dartmouth and building networks with peers and professors.

“It will enable me to learn from multiple perspectives with people from different backgrounds,” Friel said. “It will also help open me to jobs, companies or business sectors that I didn’t even know existed and partner me with Chinese counterparts throughout my career.”

An engineering exchange program in Hong Kong Friel completed during her junior year sparked her interest in studying in China. She said that the program allowed her to explore how people can create technological solutions to global health issues applicable to middle- and low-income regions.

After the Schwarzman Scholar program, Friel is planning on pursing a MD-PhD degree. She is also considering doing public work in the global health sphere.

“I think this program will build me a global understanding and give me connections, knowledge and experience through classroom e x p e r i e n c e, i n t e r n s h i p s a n d traveling,” she said.

Li, who was a government major

at Dartmouth, currently works in a strategic advising consultation group, where he specializes in macroeconomic analysis related to geopolitical trends in Asia.

He said he sees the scholarship as an opportunity to expand his understanding of China.

“It is an opportunity to really deeply understand the political background of China, especially in Beijing, the capital of China,” Li said. “I could look into the political and economic security through Schwarzman as well as the external environment of Beijing.”

Li said his interest in international relations started from the course GOVT 5, “International Politics,” which he took during his freshman year. He then participated in in ter n at i o n a l re l at i o n s - b a s e d internships through the Dickey Center and the Rockefeller Center, as well as a Domestic Study Program in Washington D.C. He also founded the Alexander Hamilton Society at Dartmouth, which invites guest speakers and college professors to debate about foreign policy.

Li said he is looking forward to gaining work experience in China

and bringing his new understanding back to his work.

O’Connor, an Asian & Middle Eastern studies modified with economics major and humancentered design minor, currently works as an associate in EYParthenon. At Dartmouth, she was the undergraduate advisor at the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network, co-president of Women in Business and a Stamps Scholar.

She also graduated as salutatorian and a class marshal. O’Connor was unable to be reached for comment by press time. “[The Schwarzman and the Mar shall] are wonderful opportunities to network and to learn more about the world,” said assistant dean of faculty for fellowship advising Jessica Smolin.

“There is the value of being part of an international community, and we are sending students who are going to take full advantage of these opportunities.”

Smolin also advised Dartmouth students to actively learn more about the variety of fellowship opportunities through the fellowship advising office.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Transportation, distance Fire did not spread because of snow important to students FROM FIRE PAGE 1

FROM HOUSING PAGE 1

students to help impact what the future of [their] housing will look like,” Petersen said.

The 2019 “Housing Demand Study & Planning” report, which presents results from a survey completed by 403 graduate students, concluded that price and proximity to campus are key drivers in choosing housing options. The report also stated that the walking distance to shops, food and access to Advance Transit shuttle stops were the two most important factors determining location preferences for graduate students.

Anne Farrell , a graduate student in the ecology, evolution, environment and society program, lives with her partner and baby in a house they bought. She said the current campus housing offerings are not familyoriented enough.

“Between having kids, it never even occurred to me to want to live in campus housing,” Farrell said. “I think if there were new campus housing that was more family-oriented, like apartment style, depending on the cost, that might be worth looking at.”

Beyond housing, the other major issue graduate students face is transportation. According to Petersen, while buses are a popular option, their schedules and routes aren’t always ideal for graduate and professional students. Transportation is an even bigger problem for international students, who don’t usually have licenses or cars. Thus, the graduate student council is currently pushing for transportation arrangements to be included in the new housing project being developed, according to Petersen.

Mathematics graduate student Zachary Garvey ag reed that transportation and proximity to campus is a top criterion for graduate student housing. He currently has to drive 35 minutes to get to campus.

“As a grad student you shouldn’t have any barriers to doing work,”

Garvey said. “If I just want to stop into the office and do a little bit of work, I can’t do that because I have to make a commitment to stay for a while. For other graduate students who don’t live walking distance to campus, public transportation is another priority, because most of them don’t have cars.”

Currently, 527 graduate and professional students live in Sachem Village, a limited number of international students live in the North Park apartments and the rest have found housing in the Upper Valley through peers within their own programs of study, on Dartlist or Craigslist, or through private renters, according to Petersen.

Affordable student housing is an issue beyond Dartmouth. Petersen said that at the Ivy+ Summit meeting this year, which brought together council leaders from all Ivy League schools and the University of Chicago, representatives from each of the schools viewed affordable housing as their biggest issue.

Dean of the school of graduate and advanced studies John Kull said staff also have a hard time securing housing because of the tough market, where rental offerings are sparse and demand is high.

“To me, this public-private partnership with Michaels Student Living seems like really good solution to a really sticky problem, because we need the housing, but we’d rather invest the money in academic enterprise,” Kull said.

The public-private partnership entails that Dartmouth lease their land to another company, the private developer invests its money and Dartmouth sends a steady stream of renters. This way, the College does not have to pay for construction or maintenance.

“The plan has been floating around for a while to use this public private partnership,” Kull said.

“Even though Dartmouth has real estate, I think the opportunity to have an external company do it seemed like a great solution.”

heat came from “radiated or conducted heat from operating equipment,” likely pointing to the wood stove in the cabin used for warmth. “Structural member or framing” made up of sawn wood, including “finished lumber and wood shingles” was the first material to be ignited. Because of the heavy snowfall, the fire was confined to the OPO cabin and did not spread.

According to the report, a member of Van Ostern’s party initially noticed the fire when he left the cabin to use the outhouse at approximately 11:30 p.m.; at that point, flames were coming out of the rood surface adjacent to the chimney pipe. The rest of the occupants were promptly woken up and used a dry chemical fire extinguisher to put out the fire in the woodstove, then proceeded to climb onto the roof to extinguish the flames. However, the fire continued to spread under the tin roofing material.

One occupant was sent to obtain cell service to call 911, while the others shut off the cabin’s propane tanks and evacuated the area.

Hell Gate Gorge Cabin, the northernmost cabin in the grant, is located 12 miles from the entrance to the Second College Grant. The cabin’s isolation meant that the Errol Fire Department was not able to arrive at the scene until approximately 1 a.m., after the roof had collapsed inward and most of the structure was burning. The firefighters deployed an attack line to cool the two venting propane tanks, both of which were on fire. Because hazardous road conditions prevented only one of the two dispatched fire engines to reach the cabin, the limited supply of water quickly ran out. However, the significant snowfall prevented the fire from spreading; by 1:35 a.m., the fire was controlled. Errol Fire remained at the cabin to monitor and secure the scene until approximately 2 a.m.

“We are grateful to the Errol volunteer firefighters for responding that night, and thankful that everyone escaped the cabin unharmed,” College spokesperson Diana Lawrence wrote in an email.

Van Ostern, along with the four members of his party and their two dogs, were relocated to a different cabin later

that night, according to associate dean of student life Eric Ramsey.

Battery-operated detectors were present in the cabin, but failed to operate during the fire for undetermined reasons.

According to Ramsey, the College inspected all cabins this past summer and again in December following the incident to examine the fire alarms and chimneys.

“We have then gone and checked all of the chimneys and all of our cabins to make sure that they have the necessary integrity and to make sure that they are safe,” Ramsey said.

The College has yet to decide whether to rebuild Hell Gate Gorge Cabin, first built in 1974, as current actions involve cleaning and preparing the site for the winter. The cabin’s insurance policy could fund replacement costs, according to Ramsey.

“We will engage with our advisory boards and the community to talk about future rebuilding, but it’s still premature at this point,” Ramsey said. “It may be a great opportunity for a class or an alum or an interested party to get a cabin represented.”

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020

PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

Jewelry studio proves to be an accessible hidden gem on campus B y HELEN LIU

The Dartmouth

Nestled in the basement of the Hopkins Center for the Arts is the Donald Claflin Jewelry Studio (affectionately referred to as the “J-Shop” by frequent studio-goers), a cozy enclave with dozens of shelves filled with countless multicolored tools, beads and wires.

With its vast assortment of materials and friendly, knowledgeable staff, the studio is a resource for crafting anything from creative academic projects to gifts for friends and family.

The jewelry studio is a noncredit arts enrichment program for students at Dartmouth to learn about craftsmanship and design from studio staff. Similarly, students can also drop in to woodworking and ceramics workshops in the Hop. There are no requirements for being involved at these studios — the idea being that students can explore their creativity whenever they have the time.

“The program was originally conceived as a way for Dartmouth students to explore their creative side without having to worry about the constraints of grades,” said Jeff Georgantes, the director of the studio.

Beginning a project is simple; students can walk into the studio, whether or not they have a plan for what they want to make. Staff members are typically available to assist beginners with basic jewelry making projects. The window display outside the workshop exhibits creations that students and staff have made in the studio, ranging from recycled bottle-cap earrings to engraved rings.

Students can manipulate beads, stones and wire with pliers, saws and soldering equipment. The staff works with students to create whatever you have in mind.

If students need technical guidance or creative advice, they are encouraged to

ask student teaching assistants, who often help studio-goers brainstorm and plan projects. These assistants are all fellow students who have spent a lot of time in the studio, so they are both experienced and approachable.

“We’re very open,” said Jess Zhang ’21, a current student teaching assistant at the studio. Zhang’s responsibilities as a student teaching assistant include helping students with projects, setting up and cleaning up the studio and helping with workshops.

“Someone who’s never had any art experience can still come in and make something,” Zhang said.

According to Georgantes, the Jewelry Studio has grown to become similar to a club over time; the students that frequently come in create a welcoming and supportive community among themselves.

“The only requirement to join is that you’re a Dartmouth student and you walked in the door,” Georgantes said.

The jewelry studio also invites a guest artist every term to share their passion and expertise in particular areas of jewelry-making with students.

Last term, there was a free stonesetting workshop led by guest artist Tim Lazure, a professor at East Carolina University.

Students who attended the workshop learned the skill of tube setting, and at the end of the lesson each student had completed setting a stone on a ring of their own.

This term’s guest is Mike Zagielski of Foredom, a Connecticut-based technology company whose tools are widely used in jewelry studios across the country. His visit will give the students and staff at the studio access to many useful tools and gadgets that aren’t usually available there, from flex shafts to micro motors. The workshop is being held Jan. 12 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Visitors initially intimidated by the studio’s extensive metalworking

equipment tend to find later on that many of the skills involved in making jewelry are easier than they expected at first.

“The first thing I made was a ring, and it was just super easy to go in and do,” said Chris Sherman ’23. “Everyone was super nice, so I just kept going. It just kind of sucks you in.”

Sherman said the studio fosters a relaxing, low-pressure and welcoming environment.

“Ultimately, it’s the people that you go to see time and time again,” Sherman said.

For many accessory-loving students, making jewelry at the studio is also an affordable alternative to buying it elsewhere. According to Georgantes, a membership costs $12 a term, $32 for a school year and $3 to $15 per project depending on the materials used. Items created in the studio are fully customizable and students can establish a personal sense of style in their work. Since he began visiting the studio, Sherman has created several rings and, most recently, a chain necklace.

Zhang is also working on several projects of her own, utilizing skills like stonesetting, sawing and enameling to create various earrings, necklaces and other accessories.

The jewelry studio also serves as a place where students can take a break from their stressful academic lives and relax through a creative outlet, according to Sherman.

“It’s therapeutic and it’s also a way for me to stay productive while I’m not doing schoolwork,” Sherman said. “It’s a great opportunity to relax but still be creating something.”

Besides drop-ins and artist workshops, the jewelry studio also offers classes, including this term’s featured program, “Cast a Creature,” where students can learn how to cast a wax figure in bronze.

Many students consider the studio

one of Dartmouth’s hidden gems, and Zhang recommends that all Dartmouth students visit it at least once during their time here.

“Actually, we have a bunch of seniors who come in in the spring and say, ‘Wow, I really wish I’d come to this place sooner,’” Zhang said.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

OPINION EDITOR MATTHEW MAGANN ‘21

Lessons in Disaster

The U.K. Labour Party failed dramatically. Will Democrats pay attention?

DEBORA HYEMIN HAN, Editor-in-Chief

AIDAN SHEINBERG, Publisher

ALEX FREDMAN, Executive Editor PETER CHARALAMBOUS, Managing Editor

PRODUCTION EDITORS TEDDY HILL-WELD & MATTHEW MAGANN, Opinion Editors KYLEE SIBILIA & NOVI ZHUKOVSKY, Mirror Editors ADDISON DICK & JUSTIN KRAMER & LILI STERN, Sports Editors LEX KANG & LUCY TURNIPSEED, Arts Editors NAINA BHALLA & LORRAINE LIU, Photo Editors SAMANTHA BURACK & BELLA JACOBY, Design Editors GRANT PINKSTON, Templating Editor JESS CAMPANILE, Multimedia Editor

ANTHONY ROBLES, Managing Editor

BUSINESS DIRECTORS JONNY FRIED & JASMINE FU Advertising & Finance Directors HIMADRI NARASIMHAMURTHY & KAI SHERWIN Business Development Directors ALBERT CHEN & ELEANOR NIEDERMAYER Strategy Directors VINAY REDDY & ERIC ZHANG Marketing, Analytics and Technology Directors

ELIZA JANE SCHAEFFER, Social Media Editor WILLIAM CHEN & AARON LEE, Data Visualization Editors

SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth College and

should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.

It’s a familiar situation: A bombastic populist head of state with a chaotic mop of blond hair faces reelection. It’s something many of us have been thinking about here in the U.S., even with our general election still close to a year away. But this story isn’t about America — it’s about Britain.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced reelection last month. Like President Donald Trump, Johnson is a divisive figure, championing populist policies like Brexit and bringing a decidedly flexible sense of ethics to Downing Street. Just days before the election, Johnson’s approval rating stood at around 36 percent, with 56 percent disapproving — not so different from Trump’s dismal approval ratings, which currently stands at around 42 percent approval and 53 percent disapproval.

Both heads of state are unpopular among their constituents. But here’s the catch. Despite his unpopularity, Johnson won reelection. And not just that — his Conservative Party won by the largest margin since 1987, when none other than Margaret Thatcher headed the party.

How did such an unpopular leader secure such a resounding victory? The answer seems to lie with his opponent, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Since 2015, when the hard-left Corbyn startled the Labour establishment with his victory at the leadership polls, he has tried to pivot Labour sharply to the left.

Corbyn arose from the far-left wing of the Labour Party, and is often perceived to be an extremist. He’s supported various despotic regimes on grounds of anti-imperialism, ignited a crisis over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and even freely admitted to divorcing his wife after she proposed they send their son to private school — Corbyn favors the abolition of private education.

Add to that his opposition to NATO, his previous Euroscepticism and his plans to nationalize major industries, and you get a thoroughly unusual and controversial politician.

Perhaps Corbyn’s extreme views help explain why his favorability ratings were even more abysmal than Johnson’s. Just days before the election, a mere 24 percent of Britons voiced approval of Corbyn, with 68 percent disapproving.

Faced with an unpopular opponent drawn from one extreme of the political spectrum, Johnson’s Conservatives swept to victory, seizing victories in working-class districts that had for decades voted reliably for Labour. The Labour Party suffered its worst defeat election in over 80 years.

Corbyn has promised to resign in the wake of the election. But it’s too late. Boris Johnson is now

a prime minister with a strong mandate. Brexit will likely happen, and the UK will stray down a populist course for the foreseeable future.

Trump has a lot in common with Johnson — he’s a right-wing populist with strong nativist tendencies, and he presents a real threat to the pluralistic liberal democracy that has long defined both Britain and the U.S. He’s also unpopular, and the Democrats are in a prime position to replace him come 2020.

Except that, strangely enough, the Democrats now seem to have their own take on Corbyn. Of course, neither Bernie Sanders nor Elizabeth Warren — who currently poll at second and third in the Democratic primary, respectively — hold views nearly as extreme as Corbyn’s. The two progressive Democratic candidates more or less want to increase government services and regulation, a relatively undramatic socialdemocratic platform that, while somewhat unusual in American politics, would not look out of place in a mainstream European center-left party.

But let’s put that statement in context. Though Warren and Sanders may fall well to the right of Corbyn, the two senators sit on the very leftmost fringe of America as a whole. In the 115th Congress, Warren had the single-most liberal Senate voting record, with Sanders just behind her at number four. Though their ideologies may not match Corbyn’s, their relative positions on the political spectrum do. And that spells trouble.

Most Americans don’t consider themselves liberal; in a 2019 Gallup poll, just 26 percent of respondents called themselves liberal, while 35 percent identified as conservative and another 35 percent as moderate. Based on Americans’ own stated ideologies, the progressive candidates appeal to a smaller fraction of the electorate than do moderate candidates, making progressives less competitive in the general election.

Now is not the time to take risks. Especially given that the GOP is favored to maintain control of the Senate in 2020, the details of who has the most progressive policy platform matter little.

What matters is defeating Trump.

There are a number of promising mainstream candidates — like Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg — running for the Democratic nomination. If we’re to learn any lesson from the Labour Party’s catastrophic loss at the polls, it’s this: Let’s nominate a mainstream Democrat.

Even if your ideals align more closely with Warren or Sanders, now is the time to vote strategically.

The stakes are too high to risk another four years of Trump.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020

PAGE 7

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

OPINION EDITOR TEDDY HILL-WELD ’20

Rich Kid Sports

SENIOR STAFF COLUMNIST TYLER MALBREAUX ’20

On Electability

Not everyone gets to play.

Candidates of color face a greater challenge than their white opponents.

This fall, the Dartmouth football team it comes to skiing, rowing, sailing, equestrian, captured yet another Ivy League championship. field hockey and squash (to name a few), not The Big Green’s 9-1 run included a Hail Mary everyone is fortunate enough to attend a school against Harvard University that even the least where those sports are offered, nor can everyone enthusiastic fan could appreciate and a historic afford the equipment and facilities it takes to matchup against Princeton University at Yankee play them.

Stadium. But while the football team plays a But if the College funds a team, the team has widespread, well-known activity, not all of the to be filled out. And maybe it is that fact which other 34 varsity sports and extracurriculars helps explain why the NCAA’s demographic offered at Dartmouth are as universally data shows that 59 percent of student-athletes accessible as football. in the Ivy League are white. For a sport like The problem is not the sailing, of the 391 NCAA number of sports that are participants in the 2017offered, but who gets to play. “The issue I’m pointing 18 academic year, exactly While it’s easy to appreciate to is simple — through ONE student was black. all of the incredibly talented For equestrian teams in a combination of individuals we go to school the same year, a whopping with, it is even easier to socioeconomic 1,215 out of 1,394 students forget that only a tiny were white. I think you advantage and fraction of the population get the idea at this point, geographic good gets the chance to even but just one more: of the attempt those activities, let 818 NCAA skiers, ONE fortune, some alone excel at them. student was black. As a activities are better The issue I’m pointing kicker, if you go to an elite to is simple — through available to elite school like Dartmouth that a combination of Americans than to the doesn’t hand out athletic socioeconomic advantage scholarships, only athletes and geog raphic good average high schooler.” who can pay can play. fortune, some activities The problem are better available to elite certainly isn’t just isolated Americans than to the average high schooler. to sports, although they are the best example According to the National Federation of State of extracurriculars that require organization, High School Associations, the top 10 most funding and coaching. For me, competitive popular sports in the country are basketball, policy debate in high school provided a clear track and field, volleyball, baseball/softball, path to Dartmouth that I never would have cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, and had access to otherwise. I wouldn’t have been swimming and diving. But what about all the able to participate if it weren’t for incredibly other sports and extracurriculars at Dartmouth? active parents and volunteer support by my According to a study about athlete family and our community. Only someone lucky admission at Harvard published in September, enough to have parents with the resources to extracurricular participation (and not just legacy pour into a unfunded activity could have had and donor preference) serves as a proxy for being the opportunity I did, and the implications of white and affluent at an incredibly high rate. that luck can be extremely significant.

While admissions offices use sports and other Crucially, this is not an argument that anyone activities to interpret an applicant’s work ethic, here does not deserve their place at Dartmouth, we often forget that in order to excel you have and definitely not that anyone pursuing these to be lucky enough to grow up in a situation in activities doesn’t work their butts off. Rather, which you can pursue your activity in the first it is a reminder that we should appreciate how place. lucky we were that our paths included activities To repeat: in order to be recruited to play that predisposed us to be compatible with this any sport, you have to grow up somewhere institution’s organizations. Most of us were with opportunities to play it. Through this fortunate enough to get to work hard within paradigm, the football and basketball teams circumstances that made it interesting and are the picture of egalitarianism, because just enjoyable to do so. But not everyone got that about everyone goes to a high school where at chance, and they are no less worthy than the least one of those sports is offered. But when rest of us.

The next Democratic debate, on Jan. Biden, the current frontrunner, ambles 14, will likely have only five presidential in missteps. It was a misstep for him to contenders. There will be the three clear publicly reminisce on his cozy relationships frontrunners — Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, with staunch segregationist senators. It was and Elizabeth Warren — along with Pete also a misstep to oppose busing, and thus, to Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, both of oppose legally sanctioned education equality. whom recently cleared But despite Biden’s track the DNC’s threshold for a record of missteps, he “The failure of black continues to get back up debate stage appearance.

That all of the five and lead the pack. I could candidates to gain likely contenders to say the same about other and maintain serious candidates. But for some appear on the next debate stage are white reflects reason, Harris’ missteps momentum in the a dissonance between ended her campaign.

Democratic primary rhetoric and action in the Data show only reinforces Democratic Party — a that African American party which claims to candidates do worse among what so many black represent the interests white voters than black of a diverse nation. The Americans have always voters in federal elections. failure of black candidates known to be true: the One study published at the to gain and maintain of California perennial problem of University serious momentum in the San Diego suggests racism in American Democratic primary only that black Democratic reinforces what so many candidates are often seen elections.” black Americans have as being less competent always known to be true: and more ideologically the perennial problem of racism in American extreme than their white opponents, elections. despite their similar policy positions. White Take the ascendant political star Kamala candidates, therefore, are seen as more Harris, who many saw as one of the most electable than black candidates. viable of the candidates of color as Cory Let’s consider what might be your biggest Booker and Julian Castro languished below objection to my argument: the election and four percent in national polls. Pundits and reelection of Barack Obama, which, to some, analysts were quick to offer conclusions would suggest race plays little to no factor in as to why Harris’ campaign, which once a candidate’s viability. But Obama’s election enjoyed high enough poll numbers to rival did not indicate a post-racial electorate, per the frontrunners’, lost its momentum and se. Rather, a message of hope coupled with a stalled. Harris muddled some of her policy stagnating economy allowed Obama to build positions, specifically her stance on Medicare a wide-ranging coalition, many of whom for All, and lost supporters to the more robust were working-class whites in Rust Belt states campaigns of Biden and Warren. Progressives whose economic woes were shared across also critiqued her prosecutorial record of racial lines. Obama’s strong support from fining parents for truancy while she was states like Michigan and Pennsylvania could attorney general of California. be more plausibly explained by economic While those were indeed serious roadblocks self-interest on behalf of white voters than for her campaign, to ignore the role of racism a shift in racial attitudes. in Harris’ withdrawal would ignore why those And beyond that fact, this year is not shortcomings dealt so much harm to her 2008 or 2012. Voters’ notions of electability, campaign and not to others. It is important especially at this time of heightened to ask, as New York Times columnist Charles polarization and racial animus, gives white Blow did in December, why these perceived candidates an immeasurable advantage missteps brought down a campaign with over candidates of color. It is imperative we so much promise. “Every campaign has acknowledge that these competitions, where missteps,” Blow wrote. “It is hard to look at the stakes are so high and the outcomes so this field of candidates and not remember a consequential, are not based solely on the cascading list of missteps.” merits; they often unfairly factor in race.

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THE DARTMOUTH ADVERTISEMENT

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020