VOL. CLXXVI NO. 116
SNOWY HIGH 32 LOW 6
OPINION
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ECHO CHAMBER PAGE 6
TESZLER: TWO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT PAGE 6
BARTLETT: ANTIQUATED AQUATICS PAGE 7
JONES: THE TOTALITARIAN MIND PAGE 7
ARTS
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: LIFE AS A STUDIO ART INTERN FOR KAITLYN HAHN ’19 PAGE 8 FOLLOW US ON
@thedartmouth
COPYRIGHT © 2020 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
New DDS cafe opens in Dana Hall
B y EMILY LU
The Dartmouth Staff
Located on the first floor of the newly renovated Dana Hall, Ramekin celebrated its grand opening on Jan. 13 as a new dining option for the Dartmouth community. The cafe is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and offers a full Starbucks menu in addition to specialty “yummekins” and other snacks. According to Dartmouth Dining Services director Jon Plodzik, DDS has been planning to open a dining location on the north side
of campus for over two years. About a year ago, DDS received financial permission from the College for the concept and has collaborated with College architects and contractors s i n c e, w o r k i n g u p t o Ramekin’s soft opening on Jan. 8. “It seems like a really underserved part of campus,” Plodzik said. “The folks in the graduate studies program were really interested in having some options for people in their building.” SEE RAMEKIN PAGE 2
Student awarded Pickering Fellowship B y JACOB STRIER
The Dartmouth Staff
Dartmouth student Sydney Kamen ’19 was awarded a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship in November, which funds two years of graduate study with a commitment of five years to the United States Foreign Service. Kamen has previously been named as both a Truman and Boren scholar, and said her interests surround humanitarianism,
gender and global health. According to a Jan. 3 press release from the program, K a m e n “ d e m o n s t r at e d outstanding academic achievement, leadership and commitment to service during their [sic] time at Dartmouth College.” Kamen, who will return to campus to take classes in both the spring and summer, emphasized her nontraditional approach to SEE PICKERING PAGE 5
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Dartmouth community member receiving tuberculosis treatment
STAFF PHOTO
The director of the Dartmouth College Health Service made the announcement in an email to campus.
B y THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF A member of the Dartmouth community is currently being treated for an active case of tuberculosis, according to an email to campus sent by College Health Service director Mark Reed. The email noted that the individual is currently being treated off campus and will not return until they are medically cleared by the state. The individual’s name will not be released due to patient confidentiality laws, and Reed asked those who know the person’s name to not divulge their identity. Over the coming days and
weeks, the College will identify and contact individuals who were in contact with the infected person. Community members in contact with the individual may have to be screened for tuberculosis, the email noted. “The health and safety of our community is our most important concern and I want to stress that there is no further risk of tuberculosis contagion to the community from this person,” Reed wrote in the email. College spokesper son Diana Lawrence declined to comment further beyond the content in Reed’s email. The College is working with New Hampshire deputy state epidemiologist
Elizabeth Talbot and public health experts in its response. The College is also hosting to forums today and tomorrow to infor m community members about the College’s response. Not everyone infected with tuberculosis, the email notes, develops the illness. The affected community member has active tuberculosis; over 9,000 cases of tuberculosis were reported in the United S t at e s i n 2 0 1 8 . L at e n t tuberculosis, which affects approximately 13 million people in the U.S., is present in the body without making one ill. In a community forum SEE TUBERCULOSIS PAGE 2
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Ramekin offers additional dining option on north end of campus light and also help to create a modern atmosphere. While seating Ramekin’s branding includes is currently limited in the small a variety of items known as cafe, outdoor accommodations will “yummekins” served in a small become available once renovations to dishes, such as “eggekins,” “mac Dana Hall are complete. According & cheesekins” and “sweetekins.” to Plodzik, the rooftop patio will also These items are unique to the be a spot for community members location and will not be served to enjoy their meals. anywhere else, Plodzik added. Other unique features about “Our crustless quiche — our Ramekin include options to cater little eggekins — are our biggest from the cafe to the academic hit,” said Ramekin manager Krista departments in Dana Hall. Ramekin Robbins. “[People are] loving the also takes Apple Pay in addition to variety, they’re loving the fact that Dining Dollars and credit cards, it’s a little different than the rest of though not cash, and serves as a campus.” location for students to drop off Popular drinks on the full their Green2Go containers. Starbucks menu such as frappuccinos “My sense is that particularly and refreshers myself as faculty w i l l a l s o b e “Our crustless quiche and graduate served at students — but — our little eggekins R a m e k i n undergrads as well a l o n g w i t h — are our biggest hit. — have always the specialty [People are] loving the wanted spaces dishes. Plodzik and places to eat a d d e d t h a t variety, they’re loving like this spread a d d i t i o n a l the fact that it’s a little around campus,” menu items government different than the rest said i n c l u d e p r o f e s s o r s m o o t h i e s , of campus.” H e r s c h e l sandwiches, Nachlis. “It sort salads and of alleviates organic soups -KRISTA ROBBINS, pressure points — made every RAMEKIN MANAGER at some of the morning in the other places and Class of 1953 satisfies a large Commons. amount of latent “ I h ave a unmet demand lot of classes in the Life Sciences throughout the campus.” Center, so I think it’s a convenient While DDS is still focused on spot if I need a quick coffee,” said improving Ramekin based on Victoria Faustin ’23. “I really like feedback from students and faculty how they have more variety than in its opening weeks, it is also looking Novack — they have smoothies and at opening a similar cafe in the different drink options.” Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy F l o o r t o c e i l i n g w i n d ow s and Society, where construction illuminate the cafe with natural is projected to finish in the fall of FROM RAMEKIN PAGE 1
CORRECTIONS Correction appended (Jan. 14, 2020): The Jan. 14 article “Sandy FordCentonze remembered for her coaching and kindness” incorrectly stated that FordCentonze was born near Concord, NC; she was actually raised there. The online version of the article has been updated to reflect this. We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
BOWEN CHEN/THE DARTMOUTH
Ramekin, a new cafe located in Dana Hall, opened this term.
2021. “We already have a design on that — you can see how far we’re working,” Plodzik said. “We work
with the campus architects and the designers of the building, first to craft out a space, then to identify the components needed in that
space. We want to just keep pushing technology and pushing the whole program forward; these new venues are exciting.”
Blood tests to be used for risk of infection FROM TUBERCULOSIS PAGE 1
held Wednesday afternoon, Talbot discussed the efforts of the College and state public health service to identify and contain the risk of infection. While Talbot noted that there is no ongoing exposure of the disease on campus, she said that it is likely that some community members will be affected as a result of the active case. The investigation, which could take weeks or months, will look as far back as the fall term, she added.
“The priority is to identify those at highest risk,” Talbot said. Talbot said that in the cases where there is a risk of latent TB infection, the College will be using a blood test diagnostic for affected individuals, which she noted is a better diagnostic than a skin test. That test takes two to three days for a laboratory to process. In the case of a positive test, treatment for active TB includes drugs taken over a few months. “This is a completely treatable disease in almost every arena,” Talbot said.
In an interview with T he Dartmouth after the presentation, Talbot said that it is not believed the original infection was obtained on campus or through any Dartmouthsponsored activity. She declined to comment on the number of individuals potentially affected. Students with health concerns can contact the DCHS at 603-6469400 or the New Hampshire public health team at 603-271-4496. A second community forum will be held today at 1 p.m. in Dartmouth Hall.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Hanover Co-op phases out plastic shopping bags at checkout B y AMBER BHUTTA The Dartmouth
Ahead of a spring 2020 deadline, the Hanover Co-op will phase out plastic shopping bags at checkout by the end of the month. This decision, first announced in March 2019, comes as part of a broader set of sustainability initiatives undertaken by the Co-op. “It’s most definitely time,” said Lorraine Durst, a Hanover resident and frequent customer at the Co-op. “I’ve had these [reusable] bags for years and always thought plastic bags didn’t make a lot of sense.” Beginning Feb. 1, customers at checkout will have the option to bring their own reusable bags or purchase paper bags for 10 cents each. Cardboard boxes will also be available upon request. “I’m very excited for this change, and I think it’s reflective of more of society and more businesses finally starting to contribute to helping save the environment,” said Julia Luo ’23, a self-proclaimed frequent Co-op customer. She explained that because her home state of California has already banned plastic bags, she has made a habit of not using them when shopping. The Co-op has also worked in conjunction with DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center to create reusable “circular blue” bags, made from re-purposed material initially used to protect sterilized equipment, according to Hanover Co-op director of public and government affairs Allan Reetz. The Co-op will sell these circular blue bags for a discounted price to ease the
transition away from plastic bags. “We wanted to say that if we make the change, what should we do instead,” Reetz said. “We wanted to consider what the options are for people and try to help because people still have to carry groceries out of the store.” Reetz said the Co-op has received mixed consumer response so far. While some customers have expressed appreciation for the Coop’s regard for sustainability, others feel that Co-op plastic bags had many uses beyond carrying groceries, including cleaning cat litter. Others also raised concerns about the lack of handles on the paper bags. Though the Co-op explored the option of offering paper bags with handles, they found them too costly, especially considering that in the past year, the Co-op went through approximately 1.2 million bags, according to Reetz. “ We u n d e r s t o o d t h a t environmentally, regardless of how much people loved the bags to use for different things, we felt we really needed to start to look for alternatives as simply the right thing to do,” Reetz said. This plastic-free initiative came in part as a response to new legislation limiting the use of plastic bags introduced in the state legislatures of both New Hampshire and Vermont, both states in which the Co-op has stores. “I think we see legislative changes coming, and we said, ‘You know what? Let’s just take the step that we’ve been looking at,’” Reetz said. “We know the time is right and just do it whether the law says we should or not.”
STAFF PHOTO
The Hanover Co-op, a local grocery store, is no longer offering plastic bags at checkout.
Reetz said phasing out plastic bags is part of a broader Co-op sustainability initiative. As a part of the initiative, the Co-op is also participating in the Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill program. Conventional refrigerants can cause emissions that lead to ozone depletion, and through GreenChill, the EPA works with food retailers such as the Co-op to revamp refrigeration infrastructure and reduce emissions. Reetz added that the Co-op now has one of the “lowest emission rates
of grocers and GreenChill partners” in the country. On the consumer end, the Coop also plans to start a coffee mug trade-in program this February. Disposable to-go coffee cups that many retailers use are often lined with plastic, rendering them nonrecyclable, said member education manager Emily Rogers. “Just thinking of all the different businesses in the Upper Valley that sell coffee, there’s large amounts of coffee cups that go into the landfill,” Rogers said.
To approach this issue, the Coop signed up for the HuskeeSwap program, in which consumers can trade in used mugs for clean ones when purchasing coffee at any participating businesses. In the Upper Valley, these businesses currently include the Co-op and Lucky’s Coffee Garage. “We were thinking that we could help ... to alleviate the barriers to reuse,” Rogers said. “Not everyone brings in their own to-go coffee mugs, and the barrier is often convenience.”
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DARTMOUTHEVENTS
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
IT’LL HAVE TO MAKE DO
CHARLIE PIKE ’22
TODAY 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Forum: Tuberculosis Information with Geisel Professor Elizabeth A. Talbot. Sponsored by Dick’s House, Dartmouth Hall 105.
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Talk: “Germany & America, Europe & the World,” with Germany’s Ambassador to the United States, Emily Haber. Sponsored by the Dickey Center, Dartmouth Hall 105.
7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Performance: “The Just and the Blind,” sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Spaulding Auditorium.
TOMORROW 6:30 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.
Artist Talk: “Martha Graham’s Artistic Legacy.” Sponsored by the Hopkins Center, Top of the Hop.
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Film: “The Lighthouse.” Sponsored by the Hopkins Center, Visual Arts Center 104 Loew Auditorium.
7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Film: “Ford v. Ferrari.” Sponsored by the Hopkins Center, Spaulding Auditorium.
FROM BARTLETT PAGE 7
FROM TESZLER PAGE 6
prerequisite in the vein of distributives and PE credits. It’s a persistent requirement, not a true tradition. And such requirement can and ought to be revisited over time to ensure that it lingers on for the right reasons. This is, after all, an issue of consistency. The swim test doesn’t work well as a tradition and it equally struggles in the realm of efficacy, given that its primary rationale is arbitrarily applied to the act of swimming alone. The test stands as an outlier in every sense of the word. And indeed, this greatly contested swim test persists thanks to its rather specious cultural inertia — less a respect for tradition and more an unwillingness to change. Dartmouth seems to mandate the swim test because it’s easier to keep with the current than to rock the boat. And perhaps that stability alone is worthwhile, even if it is not real tradition. But the fact that Dartmouth justifies its swim test as practical without equally acting on these same convictions proves both inconsistent and concerning. It’s time to align rhetoric with action: Spare the pretense and end the swim test.
training tape into the operational computer. In 1983, a Soviet base detected an incoming strike, but the director of the base decided the strike seemed too small to be real and declined to retaliate or relay the warning up to Moscow, which would have triggered a broad retaliatory strike against the U.S. In these incidents, the hair-trigger launch capacity was the biggest danger — warning systems can be faulty, and the time needed to launch a strike is incredibly short. Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union had at that point refused to commit to no first use of nuclear weapons, making the false alarms seem more believable to policymaker s. Concer ning incidents haven’t abated since the Cold War — consider when the U.S. lost track of 50 warheads for an hour in 2007 after communications systems malfunctioned. The risk of accidental nuclear war is still there. No matter how small we can make the risk of technical
malfunction or a nuclear false alarm, our leaders are only human; the question of eventual nuclear war under our current high-risk policies may be not “if,” but “when.” It’s time to take some simple and necessary precautions against d i s a s t ro u s w a r — e s p e c i a l l y pledging to reject first use and end hair-trigger launch systems. It’s time for the U.S. to take the lead and commit to saner, safer nuclear policies.
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Pickering Fellowship funds two years of graduate study FROM PICKERING PAGE 1
the Dartmouth experience. Over the past five years as a student, she has traveled to countries including Israel, Kosovo and Tanzania and held internships with the State Department, while majoring in geography and sociology. Beyond her academic work, Kamen founded and continues to run a nonprofit dedicated to promoting public health through the recycling of hotel soap and dissemination of handwashing instructions in developing countries. “Dartmouth is not a place to be taking your run-of-the-mill chemistry class,” Kamen said. “If you are going to pay the Dartmouth price tag, you might as well be intellectually stimulated and approach the world in different ways.” Since hearing the news of receiving the fellowship, which she said accepts some 30 out of 950 applicants, Kamen has applied to several graduate programs. She said she hopes to pursue a master’s degree in public policy or in global or international affairs, with a particular focus on topics such as humanitarian studies and human security. Kamen said she has considered applying to the Pickering Fellowship since high school, when she studied Hindi through a State Department program in India. Following her graduate studies and several internships prescribed by the program, Kamen said her commission with the Foreign Service will start off with consular work such as processing cases of foreign nationals seeking visas or asylum in the United States. “You spend time stamping visas and investigating people who want citizenship and asylum,” she said. Despite her initial reluctance about the routine nature of such work, she said she has become excited about gaining a deep understanding of the immigration process. “There are so many politics wrapped up in immigration, and this is a unique opportunity to
understand it from an intimate perspective,” she said. Kamen, who is currently in Kosovo with other Dartmouth students advising local leaders on issues including air pollution, said she has witnessed the struggles faced by those who wish to live out the American Dream. Kamen said eventually she is interested in exploring the political side of foreign policy, such as developing connections with local leadership and advising U.S. policy from the ground, though her future destination is unknown. “I don’t know where I will be sent, but the whole thing about the foreign service is they are training people to be generalists,” she said. “I like to think of myself as a specialist in sub-Saharan Africa. To be a generalist is a different skill, but a welcome challenge.” Assistant director for social sector leadership Leah Torrey said Kamen joined her this summer as a delegate to the Matariki Global Citizenship forum. Torrey noted that Kamen served as a thoughtful and mature “cheerleader for change.” “The world is in a delicate situation when it comes to foreign relations, and Sydney thrives on challenge and I am excited for the United States to have someone like her,” Torrey said. “We need representatives from our government to demonstrate the poise, understanding and empathy that Sydney brings in spades to any situation.” She also added that joining the Foreign Service will involve sacrificing some degree of personal agency. This includes restrictions on travel to areas of the world deemed unsafe for State Department employees as well as requiring her keep certain political opinions or criticisms regarding the U.S. government to herself. Despite these possible concerns, however, Kamen said she is excited about her choice to commit to the fellowship and its associated national duty — a decision which discussed with environmental studies professor and Dickey Center associate director
COURTESY OF SYDNEY KAMEN
Kamen majors in geography and sociology at Dartmouth.
Melody Burkins before making. B u rk i n s, o n e o f K a m e n’s recommenders for the fellowship, described her as “very ambitious, very dedicated to service, and pure energy and enthusiasm embodied in a person.” She said Kamen often
meets with her to discuss plans or practice mock interviews to gain constructive criticism. Kamen said today’s global climate is a unique time to enter the global stage. “It’s an interesting time to
be running towards the State Department, amidst scandals and the chaos of this administration,” she said. “Service is about running into the fire, even when there are so many brave souls running away from it.”
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
WILLIAM HAMLEN ’84
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST MAX TESZLER ’23
Letter to the Editor: Echo Chamber
Two Minutes to Midnight
I am an ’84 who recently moved back to Hanover and has recently read The Dartmouth several times. I am disappointed to see how far left the paper has drifted. For example, in The Dartmouth’s Jan. 9 opinion section, the first editor’s opinion piece ends with, “The stakes are too high to risk another four years of Trump.” While I did not vote for Trump, the nation is currently enjoying record-low unemployment and a record-high stock market. You may not like the President, but most working people are more worried about the risk of a socialist agenda than they are of another four years of prosperity. A second column argues that some varsity sports are elitist due to their low minority participation. However, given that 59 percent of student athletes in the Ivy League are white (per the article) in a country where 72 percent of the population is white (per Google), then one must conclude that overall, sports offer minorities a gateway to higher education. A third opinion was a tirade about the lack of
DEBORA HYEMIN HAN, Editor-in-Chief
a black candidate on the Democratic debate stage and concludes that we are a racist nation. Given the eight years of Barack Obama in the White House, we should give this argument a rest while we wait for another truly inspiring minority candidate. The Dartmouth appears to be stuck in a leftleaning echo chamber. Perhaps it is time to include a more diverse spectrum of opinions to keep The Dartmouth fresh and relevant. Sincerely, William Hamlen William Hamlen is a member of the Class of 1984 and former member of The Dartmouth staff. The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns and letters to the editor. We request that they be the original work of the submitter. Letters should not be longer than 250 words and must include the name, location and contact information of the author. Submissions may be sent to both opinion@ thedartmouth.com and editor@thedartmouth.com. Submissions will receive a response within three business days.
AIDAN SHEINBERG, Publisher
ALEX FREDMAN, Executive Editor PETER CHARALAMBOUS, Managing Editor
ANTHONY ROBLES, Managing Editor
PRODUCTION EDITORS CAROLINE COOK & EOWYN PAK, Opinion Editors
BUSINESS DIRECTORS JONNY FRIED, JASMINE FU, RAIDEN MEYER,
KYLEE SIBILIA, Mirror Editor LILI STERN & BAILY DEETER, Sports Editors LEX KANG & LAUREN SEGAL, Arts Editors DIVYA KOPALLE, Photo Editor SAMANTHA BURACK & BELLA JACOBY, Design Editors HATTIE NEWTON, Templating Editor JESS CAMPANILE, Multimedia Editor
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, Engagement Editor WILLIAM CHEN & AARON LEE, Data Visualization Editors
ISSUE LAYOUT LAUREN ADLER 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.
U.S. nuclear policies risk a devastating war.
In the two weeks since the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the United States and Iran seem to have stepped back from the brink of war. Thankfully, the two states’ brief exchange of conventional force has given way to a de facto ceasefire. But it could have been worse. Imagine the past weeks if nuclear conflict had been on the table. Imagine more tension, greater risk and far less room for error. And here’s the most shocking part: In that scenario, the United States, not Iran, might even pose the greatest threat of escalating tensions into nuclear war. By reserving the right to conduct preemptive strikes — nuclear-weapons use unprovoked by an enemy nuclear attack — and keeping hundreds of warheads on “hair trigger alert,” the U.S. exacerbates the risk of nuclear war. These risky policies have led us to the edge of nuclear exchange in the past and could well lead us to cross that line in the future. It’s time to abandon Cold War paranoia and change our nuclear policy to define America’s nuclear arsenal as a deterrent, not an offensive weapon of war. No state wants to use nuclear weapons. The consequences are catastrophic. The U.S. maintains nuclear warheads with around 100 times the explosive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima , which killed over 100,000 people. Even North Korea, with its relatively rudimentary nuclear capability, has weapons a dozen times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb. The impact of any nuclear exchange can spread worldwide — even a “regional” nuclear war, like one between India and Pakistan, would likely generate enough fallout to lower corn yields in the Midwest by between 10 and 40 percent for a decade. If the consequences are so extreme, how could nuclear weapons ever be used? Only if the situation grows dire enough — and if someone blinks, breaking decades of global taboo to push the button and trigger the first combat use of nuclear weapons since 1945 . It’s in the interest of no one to start that nuclear war. But the United States’ current nuclear policies threaten to push the world into exactly these conditions. We maintain the option of a nuclear first strike for an extensive list of circumstances, including retaliation for non-nuclear strikes, chemical attacks, large-scale conventional forces or hardened
bunkers. I have little sympathy for regimes that would use chlorine or mustard gas — but these weapons pale in comparison to the sheer destructive power of nuclear weapons. The United States’ missiles are maintained so as to be ready to strike anywhere, anytime. Our missiles are on so-called hair-pin triggers, ready to launch at the command of the President in as little as five minutes. The supposed rationale is the need to quickly respond to any attack, given the possibility that our nuclear capacity could be wiped out by an enemy. But due to our virtually undetectable nuclear submarines, such destruction of America’s nuclear capacity is considered by many security experts to be virtually impossible. Still, the U.S. maintains over 700 weapons on a high level of alert, capable of killing hundreds of millions with the press of a button . This is not a sane deterrent or prudent planning — it’s little more than madness. Due to our hair-pin trigger launch system, a war can become nuclear in an instant. And that threat escalates fear and uncertainty around the globe. Any state that could be on the receiving end of a nuclear first strike has an incentive to remain as launch-ready as possible. Under such circumstances, a dangerous possibility arises: A state fearing for its survival might be tempted to use its nuclear weapons before the U.S. can destroy it. The threat of first strike, when combined with rising tensions and nuclear brinkmanship, creates a perverse incentive for enemies to lash out with offensive nuclear force of their own. Several expert analyses, including one by nuclear policy analyst Michael Gerson and another by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, have found such a scenario highly plausible. If this scenario still doesn’t sound realistic, simply look to 50 years of case studies: the Cold War. Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union experienced several so-called “close calls,” a series of terrifying incidents where the threat of nuclear war crossed from a feared eventuality to an imminent possibility. In 1979, the U.S. detected a massive Soviet launch. President Jimmy Carter was minutes away from a counter-strike when he was told the threat was erroneous — one technician had accidentally inserted a nuclear strike SEE TESZLER PAGE 4
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
STAFF COLUMNIST NICHOLAS BARTLETT ’21
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST TANNER JONES ’22
Antiquated Aquatics
Dartmouth’s swim test is a paragon of inconsistency. Dartmouth College remains one of the few remaining elite, academic stalwarts clutching to the tradition of a “swim test” one untimed 50-yard lap in the pool as a graduation requirement. And try though I may, I simply cannot shake my befuddlement as to why this exercise sticks around. The preeminence of an Ivy League education and a meager jaunt in the pool couldn’t seem more dissonant. I don’t find the act of swimming to be specifically difficult, and I recognize that Dartmouth provides facilities and training programs for those looking to hone their form prior to the swim exam, but something about the principle of such an affair seems off-putting. Though arguments can be made about physical activity or safety, Dartmouth’s longheralded swim test seems like the worst kind of tradition: one kept around for no better reason than a fear of change. Mine isn’t the first voice to cast doubt upon the practice. The debate itself has raged on long before my time at Dartmouth began and will likely persist long after I graduate. Most recently, in late 2018, an athletics committee openly discussed and pondered the examination’s fate. The response, as reported by The Dartmouth, remained chiefly positive. The committee lobbied in favor of the swim test and Dartmouth’s faculty approved this resolution. The swim test’s very administrator championed swimming’s position as an “important life skill” and a necessity for basic safety reasons. The matter was settled. And yet, though the house of cards stood proudly, it seemed to teeter all the same. Swimming is an important life skill, sure, and it invariably serves a practical function in hedging the student body against the perils of living near the Connecticut River. But do these reasons prove sufficient to mandate swimming and swimming alone as a graduation requirement? Does nothing else satisfy the stated criteria, yet go untouched by Dartmouth’s bureaucracy? Take the issue of student health and safety. A first glance into Centers for Disease Control statistics seems to bear out the risk posed by ill-prepared swimmers, with approximately 10 Americans drowning each day, with risk factors including both a lack of “ability” and proximity to a body of water. But swimming isn’t the only danger in the world. Approximately 26 percent of all American collegiate deaths trace back to the broader
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THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
category of “accidents,” with greater than half of this already significant chunk pertaining to motor vehicles in some capacity. Vehicular accidents, then, are both far more fatal and frequent than the swimming-related tragedies that Dartmouth currently targets. And yet, for all the risk and ubiquity of vehicles within American life, Dartmouth does not go out of its way to require mandatory driver’s education courses. One can step foot on this campus and proudly flaunt a diploma without so much as sniffing a steering wheel. Demanding that students fulfill a swim test in order to graduate when equally dangerous activities aren’t subject to a similar degree is illogical. If the swim test actually were a matter of public safety, the logical step would be to expand the mandate to all equally risky walks of life. But the administration doesn’t. Others may retort that the swim test is in fact consistent; consistent, that is, with Dartmouth’s traditions. We’re a school that sings “lest the old traditions fail,” and we certainly live up to that line. But let’s take a more critical look at our traditions. In particular, we must ask ourselves if a tradition facilitates social cohesion or has some reason to exist beyond just having stayed unchanged for year. Although the swim test is an experience shared by all graduating Dartmouth students, it doesn’t meaningfully mobilize the student body or crystallize a sense of culture. For an example of a good traditions, consider the muchbeloved Homecoming bonfire. This fiery romp about the blaze fashions every member of the freshman class into a simultaneous participant and invites all other students and alumni to try their hand at playing the spectator. We all do it; we all (mostly) love it; and most importantly, it stands out amid the monotony. It’s something special, something you cannot hope to find anywhere else or recapture on your own. It oozes Dartmouth spirit and becomes a talking point in itself. It builds community. The swim test is hardly so effective. It brings no celebration or cause for camaraderie; all it encourages is rote compliance. It lacks the mythos, the sense of awe and the community-building on which tradition ought to be predicated. The swim test is little more than a longstanding SEE BARTLETT PAGE 4
The Totalitarian Mind
The psychology that produces the most dangerous kind of politics. Totalitarianism is more than a political project. It is a popular psychology that facilitates tyrannical societies through a particularly brutal form of groupthink intent on the destruction of free thought. Totalitarian governments are not simply top-down regimes; they instead emerge from entire societies operating in a totalitarian manner. The great political theorist Hannah Arendt famously noted that the Nazi and Soviet systems did not appear overnight, but instead emerged from cultures inundated by the 19th and 20th centuries’ popular ideological movements of imperialism and anti-Semitism. History’s most dangerous demagogues thus share culpability with the masses that subscribed to their ideology and formed their cults of personality. Single-minded ideology invites totalitarian politics into democratic systems. Consider the long history of race-based slavery and discrimination in the United States. The popular ideology of racism against nonWhites fueled a doctrine of discrimination and a culture of prejudice. Indeed, in modern democracies predicated on popular sovereignty, danger lies not just at the top of the political hierarchy, but across the masses who collectively hold power. Nineteenthcentury French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville dubbed this phenomenon “the tyranny of the majority.” Even the ancient Greeks understood popular opinion as a threat to justice in democratic systems. That’s why Plato described democracy as the necessary precursor for tyranny and tyranny as the inevitable outcome of democracy. Popular sovereignty, he contended, produces dangerous populism and then tyrannical dictatorship. History provides evidence for Plato’s claim. In the dying days of the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar captured popular support and ushered in nearly 500 years of empire. In the modern age, masses mobilized by ideology transformed civil societies into vicious totalitarian regimes. Germany’s 1932 elections cemented the Nazis as the nation’s preeminent political force and paved the road for Hitler’s seizure of absolute power. Likewise, widespread popular support inflamed the Bolshevik movement that led to the totalitarianism of the Soviet Union. While Caesar’s Rome is gone and lessons from that era might seem archaic, 20th-century Germany and Russia are no distant lands. There are still those alive who remember the atrocities of Stalin and Hitler, and both Germany and Russia were modern countries with educated populations not so different from our own. Millions of modern people not so far away and not so long ago were complicit in totalitarian regimes responsible for some of the greatest atrocities in human history. It is imperative to understand why. In many ways, totalitarian thought is natural and
easy. Humans are evolutionarily wired to take sides and root for teams. It’s easier to wholeheartedly endorse a singular ideology or narrative than it is sift through and organize all the inconsistencies and nuances of each political issue. Likewise, it’s easier to single-mindedly vilify our political opponents and celebrate our champions than it is to recognize the inescapable strengths and weaknesses of every individual. We’ve known this for millennia — it’s why Jesus’ teaching that followers ought to love their enemies has proven perhaps Christianity’s most difficult doctrine to practice. In order to counter this totalitarian instinct, recognizing nuance and rejecting dogmatic ideology is paramount. Single-minded political movements ignore inconvenient problems with their own agendas and fail to recognize the evident goods of their opponents. We constantly see this in politics today: Dogmatic Democrats downplay failures of the Obama administration just as dogmatic Republicans ignore failures of Trump. In a totalitarian society, reinforcing one’s a priori ideological commitment becomes more important than finding the truth. In other words, the totalitarian mind uses argument not as tool for truth-finding, but as an excuse to fortify preexisting delusions. I worry that totalitarian psychology is ascendant in the modern era, propelling polarization, impeding meaningful progress and risking a dangerous kind of politics reminiscent of darkest hours of human history. While many structural forces — independent courts, free press and fundamental rights for citizens, to name a few — create bulwarks against totalitarian government in America, it remains important to assess the status of our culture and its propensity for totalitarian psychology. Totalitarian psychology is responsible for the mobilization of modern democratic peoples for the greatest evils in human history. It is imperative that Americans deeply interrogate their own beliefs, practice critical thinking and humility and reject totalitarian impulses in favor of a reasonable and inclusive politics. No ideology is infallible, and no ideologue has all the answers. As such, if one ideology claims a monopoly on political justice or righteousness, it necessarily tells a totalitarian lie. As individuals operating in a democratic society — and thereby parties to the social contract which renders America’s government legitimate — we must reject the totalitarian politics of dogmatism, fear and outrage. No political party is immune to the totalitarian mind and no dogmatic ideology is exempt from culpability. For a better society and a better politics, totalitarian psychology must be honestly recognized and then unequivocally abandoned.
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
Student Spotlight: life as a studio art intern for Kaitlyn Hahn ’19
B y EMILY ZHANG The Dartmouth
Each year, five graduating seniors majoring in studio art are chosen to be interns for the department upon their graduation. Kaitlyn Hahn ’19, one of the studio art interns for this academic year, is especially interested in exploring sculpture and digital art during her internship. She is working not only as a teaching assistant in photography, printmaking and senior seminar classes, but also on her own art, which includes multimedia projects and installation exhibits. In fall 2019, Hahn’s solo exhibition “Overload Saturated” was on display in the Barrows Rotunda at the Hopkins Center. Her exhibition was up from Sep. 17 to Oct. 21 and featured a TV installation running different time-coded animations with imageries taken from mass media. Through this exhibit, Hahn said her goal was to discuss the impact of social media on human relationships and self-perception. “I wanted to encourage people to think about their relationship with media, how much power we give it in our lives, and how much we let it control our reaction and thought processes,” Hahn said. Hahn said her inspiration came from social media experiences she had last summer. She had just started her internship shortly after graduation and observed her friends traveling around on social media. “Social media has made a lot of people anxious,” Hahn said. “It forced me to second-guess my decision to stay here in Hanover. But this is my life, this is what allows me to continue doing the work I want to do.” Hahn said the studio art internship is a great opportunity to get access to the
facilities in the Black Family Visual Art Center as well as work with professors who are willing to help develop her projects. Though Hahn grew up taking art classes, when she first came to Dartmouth, she said she had no intention of being a studio art major. As a firstgeneration college student, Hahn said she felt a certain pressure from those around her about her career choice. “Many people’s perception of college is that college is a means to a job,” Hahn said. “I was planning to do computer science during my first two years at Dartmouth, but as I started taking studio art classes, I just wanted to take more and more.” Her sophomore summer, Hahn took SART 17.18, “Art & Activism,” a class taught by studio art professor Viktor Witkowski in which she explored different kinds of media and realized that studio art is a subject she deeply cares about. “I really feel strongly that four years is a short amount of time, and this is your time to study what you are interested in and have access to incredible professors,” Hahn said. “You should study and learn what you care about, not what you think the world is telling you to or what is profitable. I think by the end of the day, work takes up the majority of your life, and you just want to be happy.” During the “Art & Activism” class, Witkowski said his first impression of Hahn was of a self-assured, openminded student. “Whenever I threw something at students, I never had to worry about Kaitlyn,” Witkowski said. “She did [the assignments] in a very confident way, determined while open to different ideas at the same time.” In her senior honors thesis, named “that which contained us — no longer
a home,” Hahn dove into the theme of home and belonging by building a model of the house she grew up in with acrylic, dichroic film and mirrors. Hahn said she intertwined her exploration of light, shadow and layers with her understanding of how the relationship within her family has changed after coming to college. “There are things that you recognized and believed to be true only because they were normalized,” Hahn said. “When you are a kid, your parents are the people who teach you things about life, but as you grow older, you come to realize that your parents are people too and are just as much trying to figure out their place in this world as you.” Hahn said it was difficult to work with topics that are so close to her, which is why she then decided to create more social commentary like “Overload Saturated.” Nevertheless, she said that she enjoys working with ideas about home and is now creating a projection installation with footage she took this winter while at her home in Los Angeles. Witkowski said he really appreciated Hahn’s effort and courage to include her personal identity and narratives into her artwork. “It is not an easy thing to do, because when you expose yourself, you become vulnerable,” Witkowski said.“When the student is able to combine personal histories into practical work, it just makes it much stronger and richer and I really love that she went there.” Recently, Hahn found out that her thesis won the 2019 Jonathan B. Rintels prize for the best honors thesis of arts and humanities. “It was kind of crazy for me, but it was really reaffirming as a young artist to get recognized by the College,” Hahn said. As an intern, Hahn said she not only
enjoys the opportunity to pursue her own projects, but also the experience of being a teaching assistant, which includes duties ranging from helping professors with classroom logistics to advising on students on their work. Hahn is a teaching assistant in Witkowski’s senior seminar and Witkowski said Hahn has brought many fresh perspectives to his students’ projects. “[Studio art interns] bring in this kind of outsider aspect and serve as a role model for students,” Witkwoski said. Hahn said being a teaching assistant is not just a process of helping others, but also an opportunity to continue learning. In a photography class she assisted last term, Hahn said she has gained many new insights by participating in classroom conversations. “As a TA, I tried to be helpful on a technical level, but the students are all so thoughtful and I was just blown away by the conversation that could come up,” Hahn said. “[Working as an intern] feels very different than being a student, but I’m learning so much, which is what I love.” When asked about future goals after her internship, Hahn laughed and said,
“That is a big question.” Hahn said that right now, she is an animation and design freelancer and at some point in her career plans to pursue a master in fine arts. “Doing design and freelance work is totally an option, but if possible, I’d love to keep doing art independently,” Hahn said. Studio art professor Enrico Riley, who critiqued Hahn’s senior honor thesis, extolled the artistic bravery Hahn employs in her projects. “I think Kaitlyn is self-motivated and brave,” Riley said. “Studio art doesn’t necessarily have the clearest career path all the time, but Kaitlyn works extremely hard to realize her ideas.” Hahn encouraged all Dartmouth students to take a studio art class during their time at the College, especially recommending SART 29, “Photography I.” “A lot of us in our generation are familiarized with editing photos on our phone,” Hahn said. “But all of that is derived from actual physical processes, so it’s cool to see it physically happening on film in a dark room.” Kaitlyn Hahn is a former member of The Dartmouth staff.
COURTESY OF KAITLYN HAHN
Hahn works on her thesis project made of acrylic, dichroic film and mirrors.