The Dartmouth 02/05/2021

VOL. CLXXVII NO. 6

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021

College to announce significant study abroad cuts

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

‘Marriage Pact’ algorithm pairs students with their ‘perfect’ match

SOURCE: MARRIAGE PACT

Over 1,700 students participated in the algorithm-based matchmaking program.

B y Catherine Trusky & Sydney Wuu The Dartmouth

The College plans to slash the Guarini Institute’s budget by 45% in the next fiscal year.

By LAUREN ADLER & Reilly Olinger The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 4, 2021.

Students grappling with uncertain foreign study plans amid the pandemic may soon be bracing for another blow. The College will slash funding for off-campus programs and scrap a significant number of its study abroad trips — a decision that has already sparked uproar throughout the Dartmouth community.

According to associate dean for international studies and interdisciplinary programs Dennis Washburn, the Guarini Institute’s budget will be cut by roughly 45%. While Dartmouth usually runs 42 of its 45 off-campus programs every year, it will now likely run 31 programs annually and offer 35 in total. Although

SNOWY HIGH 37 LOW 21

not yet official, department chairs have been told by the administration to expect an announcement about significant cuts to off-campus programs within the next few weeks.

Language programs will be hit particularly hard, as several language study abroad and foreign study programs are slated to be changed to a biennial format or cut completely. According to multiple language professors, two French programs, two Spanish programs, an Italian program and a German program are among those slated to be cut.

Washburn noted that the exact budget cuts and programs affected are “still in flux” and will not be certain until Guarini’s new budget plan is finalized later in the term.

“I don’t want to see this kind of cut — nobody wants to see this,” Washburn said. “These are bad, serious cuts, but we

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need to fix our ongoing budget problem.”

He noted that Guarini usually runs a deficit of about $600,000 per year, which fluctuates slightly based on local costs or the exchange rate of the dollar in different program locations.

According to German studies department chair Klaus Mladek, the Guarini Institute is a “relatively easy target” for budget cuts as compared to the Arts and Sciences budget because it has been “running deficits for years” due to rising legal and program costs and decreasing student participation.

“This drastic cut is sort of on the heels of a longer downward spiral,” Mladek said.

According to Spanish and Portuguese department chair Isabel LozanoRenieblas, the institute’s struggles are “nothing new.”

Lozano-Renieblas said the institute has SEE ABROAD PAGE 2

600 bids extended to new fraternity, sorority members

OPINION

DOKKEN: ESSENTIAL AND EXPLOITED

STAFF PHOTO

KATE HERRINGTON/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Many Greek houses welcomed small pledge classes at the end of last week.

B y KYLE MULLINS The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 2, 2021.

With the close of the College’s first-ever virtual rush, which saw the participation of over 700 students, many Greek houses have welcomed their smallest rush classes in years.

This year, fraternities extended 316 bids, and sororities offered 284 — a drop from the 336 total bids offered by fraternities and 349 bids offered by sororities across last fall and winter.

“Interest in rush in general this year was a lot lower,” Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity rush chair Jonah Kahl ’22 said. “It wasn’t the same experience. A lot of guys are taking gap years. … There are other things going on that they’d rather be worrying about than rushing.”

About 90% of those who registered for fraternity rush and about 70% of those who registered for sorority rush accepted bids at the end of the rush process.

27 bids have been extended at Alpha Chi, 31 at Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, 26 at Bones Gate fraternity, 29 at Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity, 26 at Chi Heorot fraternity, 33 at Gamma Delta Chi fraternity, six at Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, 27 at Phi Delta Alpha fraternity, 30 at Psi Upsilon fraternity, 34 at Sigma Nu fraternity, 30 at Theta Delta Chi fraternity and 17 at Zeta Psi fraternity.

Interfraternity council president

Michael Saturno ’21 added that BG, TriKap, Phi Delt, Sig Nu and Zete chose to participate in a second optional night of shakeout.

Seven fraternities out of 11 — Alpha Chi, Bones Gate, Chi Gam, Heorot, TriKap, Psi U and Zete — saw declines in their rush class size compared to last year.

Tri-Kap, which extended 24 bids last year, saw the largest decrease, followed by Zete, which extended 27 last year.

These figures do not include students who rushed Scarlett Hall — the house formerly known as Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, which was derecognized by the College and its national organization.

Scarlett Hall did not participate in the IFC rush process but did rush new members.

Representatives of Scarlett Hall could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, as of Feb. 1, 39 bids have been extended at Alpha Phi sorority, 36 at Alpha Xi Delta sorority, 39 at Chi Delta sorority, five at Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, which took additional members during the fall term, 36 at Kappa Delta sorority, 43 at Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority, 43 at Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and 43 at Sigma Delta sorority, Office of Greek Life program coordinator Jessica Barloga wrote to The Dartmouth.

Four houses have also accepted members through continuous open bidding — Chi Delt, EKT, KD and Sigma Delt. Chi Delt took two additional members through COB, while Sigma SEE RUSH PAGE 2

This article was originally published on Feb. 4, 2021.

On Monday, over 1,500 Dartmouth students received emails revealing their supposedly perfect partners.

Making its Dartmouth debut this year, Marriage Pact — a program devised by Stanford University students in 2017 — sets out to provide each participant a romantic or friendship match based on answers to a 50-question survey on values, perspectives and life outlook.

On Monday night, most participants received an email revealing the name of their optimal match, compatibility percentile with respect to the schoolwide community and shared values.

157 students did not receive a match, in part due to a deficit of heterosexual and bisexual men compared to heterosexual and bisexual women.

The program received over 1,000 sign-ups the first day, and a total of 1,749 students — or 42% of the total undergraduate student body — participated by the time the form closed on Monday.

Marriage Pact school partners Tippa Chan ’23 and Sara Cavrel ’23 played the self-described role of the “messengers,” managing the Dartmouth Marriage Pact Instagram account and communicating with the creators of the pact at Stanford.

They also helped to customize the last 10 questions of the questionnaire to best fit the Dartmouth community.

Chan said she and Cavrel brought Marriage Pact to Dartmouth in order to “connect the community with each other.”

“Especially in this time of COVID, particularly ’24s do not have many avenues to connect with people and to branch out,” Chan explained. “We really just wanted to establish a really neat way for Dartmouth students to meet other Dartmouth students, just to get out of their rooms and find new social circles because it’s pretty hard to penetrate those small social circles that you’re trapped in.”

Chan and Cavrel relied on Librex as their main channel for promoting the program, which they said allowed them to effectively advertise their platform and garner student support. However, Chan described the social media app as “toxic” and said dealing with comments on the platform was a challenge unique to the Dartmouth branch. She maintained that the use of Librex to promote Marriage Pact was a “win-lose situation.”

Cavrel added that she anticipated making friends would be even more difficult this winter, given the fact that the pandemic’s restrictions make it difficult to meet new people.

While Cavrel noted that much of the negative feedback to the program has come from students in relationships who felt they could not participate, she stressed that the survey provided a way to indicate relationship status — a question that asked “how single are you?” — so that those not interested in romantic relationships could use the program to find a friend rather than a romantic partner.

“The name of the whole algorithm I guess is misleading, but you can also use it to make friends,” Cavrel said.

Adriana Chavira ’24 said she decided to take the Marriage Pact survey because she was hoping to find a new friend with a similar personality to herself.

“I wasn’t looking for a romantic date,” Chavira said. “It was kind of an experiment. I haven’t met my match yet, so I’m not sure if they did a good job matching me. I’m going to go get lunch with him on Friday.”

Elizabeth Ding ’24 took the survey without any serious intentions of finding her ideal match.

“Almost all of my friends, including those in serious relationships, took the Marriage Pact simply out of curiosity,” Ding said.

However, Ding said she felt that the questions were geared toward finding someone with shared values rather than finding a surface-level connection.

While she did not know her match before the Marriage Pact, Ding said they “might become friends” in the future if they have shared classes.

Ding noted the organizers did an “efficient job” of publicizing the Marriage Pact and spreading the word about the survey in the weeks leading up to the match reveal.

Chan noted that one unexpected challenge of Marriage Pact was communicating release times. Originally set to arrive anywhere from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the match reveal email came out at approximately 10:15 p.m. due to the algorithm taking longer than expected, Chan said.

“Even though the anticipation was fun, maybe for next year it would be better if the organizers could tell us a set time our matches are going to come out,” Ding added.

Not everyone agreed with Ding’s positive outlook towards the program, however.

“I feel like the sentiment across campus is that it was a bust,” Max Montrose ’23 said. “In theory, it sounded like it was going to work out pretty well … but I think what ended up happening was that a lot of people’s matches went nowhere.”

Roughly 1% of students who filled out the form did not receive a match.

In the hours leading up to the match announcement, emails to student participants attempted to remedy the deficit of straight and bisexual men by specifically soliciting their engagement, warning that “190 straight women are matchless.”

“You still have time to text a straight or bi male friend to save yourself (or a friend) from the waitlist,” one email read.

“Be a hero, close that gap.”

Some students also took issue with the questions on the form. Isabel Adler ’21, for example, said that the survey should have asked what genders people wanted to be matched with instead of assuming what genders correspond to specific sexualities.

“It upset me that I put in my sexuality and it assumed the gender identity of people I wanted to be matched with,” Adler said.

Chan noted that she is unsure if she was able to represent Dartmouth as much as she could have in her choice of the final 10 questions, which asked people to rank their agreement with statements like, “It is more important to protect someone’s feelings than to tell them the truth” and “I am always seeking adventure,” as well as questions like “Would you rather work a high-paying job that you hate or a lowpaying job that you love?” However, she hopes that their efforts have managed to create community and allow people to meet one another.

Next year, Chan hopes to run Marriage Pact again, but with an expanded team to make it “more manageable.” “[Cavrel] and I were quite stressed managing all the questions because we are not that representative of Dartmouth,” Chan said. “We are two international girls who are ’23s, so we [had] really only had two-and-a-half terms on Dartmouth’s campus.”

Cavrel is a member of The Dartmouth staff.

Adler is a former member of The Dartmouth staff.

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

PAGE 2

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Language departments petition to avoid cuts to abroad programs FROM ABROAD PAGE 1

a “structural deficit” in which its debt compounds every year, adding that it was “clear” to some faculty that cuts might be imminent.

“Some cuts seem to have been kind of snuck in as related to the pandemic but are actually related to budget issues that the College has had for years,” said Russian professor Ainsley Morse, who also sits on an interdepartmental committee that runs the off-campus program in Russia.

Washburn said that while the cuts are partially a result of a more general College budget deficit due to the pandemic, Guarini has had budgetary issues since the economic downturn in 2007 and 2008. He added that while the number of programs offered since 2008 has increased, student enrollment in programs has declined, and the budget has increased “very slightly.”

Morse expressed frustration that professors were not consulted about the program cuts and had no voice in the decision.

“The lack of transparency is one of the most frustrating aspects of this scenario,” Morse said. “I think that if faculty had been consulted [or] there was some kind of a forum to talk about all this, probably

we wouldn’t need to make grand gestures and protest. We could have just worked it out.”

After learning of the cuts, according to Lozano-Renieblas, the Spanish and Portugese department sent a petition to all students who had participated in its study abroad programs to ask for their continued support of the programs. As of Wednesday, the petition has over 1,000 signatures and nearly 200 student testimonials about the importance of off-campus programs.

“I think that off-campus programs are essential, it’s the core of the education at Dartmouth and many of these testimonies state that is probably the best experience in the College,” Lozano-Renieblas said.

Other departments, including the German department and the French and Italian department, have similarly sent out petitions calling for the continuation of their study abroad programs. As of Wednesday, the German department’s petition has garnered 124 signatures and more than 50 testimonials from students and alumni, while another petition circulated in the French and Italian department has received 206 signatures.

Lozano-Renieblas said that the “main ramification [of the program cuts] and the most important is the attack [on] our

mission as educators of global citizens,” noting that the elimination of programs could also affect majors, minors and enrollment in certain departments.

German professor Yuliya Komska said these numbers can have important implications down the line for hiring and department funding decisions.

“This is a very numbers-oriented administration,” Komska said. “So to have a situation where they’re putting us in the position where the major numbers are dwindling, not because the students wanted, but because of the conditions that have been created for them and for us — that would be really bad.”

French and Italian department chair David LaGuardia wrote in an email to The Dartmouth that the College has been “slowly but systematically” cutting off-campus programs for the last decade, “at the same time that we’re being asked to foster more diversity, ‘inclusive excellence’ and global awareness.”

“It doesn’t make much sense to those of us who have spent our lives studying and teaching linguistic and cultural differences,” he wrote.

“There is essential value to spending time in another place,” Morse said. “If you really want to be good at what you’re

doing in terms of your study and work in another cultural context, the language stuff is really, really important.”

Morse added that she hoped the planned cuts to study abroad programs are not indicative of a broader shift by the College away from languages.

“I would be very distressed if it seemed like Dartmouth, in a systematic way, was deprioritizing language study,” Morse added.

Washburn said that the College has seen a large shift toward the social sciences and STEM since the 1980s and 1990s and a shift away from the humanities, the area in which many off-campus programs are currently focused. He said that Guarini is “trying to reset the portfolio to better match student interest” by offering programs that integrate language study with other disciplines, such as the new combined government and Russian program on which students will be able to travel to Moscow.

“We’re going to continue the process of resetting the off-campus programs to look for innovative ways to do these programs in new areas, … to look at the programs we have now and look at how we can refurbish them,” he said.

For example, Guarini will soon offer

a three-week, course-credit-bearing pilot program with the Asian Societies, Cultures and Languages program in which students will travel to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam over the break between fall and winter term to study Vietnamese environmental history. Washburn also mentioned the new interdisciplinary German and engineering program and a potential new program in Brazil that would combine Portuguese and environmental studies.

He added that off-campus programs are “here to stay long term” but that Guarini has a “short-term budget problem” that needs to be resolved.

“We don’t want to be cutting what is the jewel in the crown of Dartmouth’s undergraduate education,” Washburn said. “We think that by building out new kinds of programs and redoing some of the things we’re already doing well, but doing them better, we can best serve the interest of students. I’m really optimistic about that.”

Correction appended (Feb. 4, 2021): A previous version of this article stated that the committee Morse sits on is a department committee. The article has been updated to reflect that the committee is interdepartmental.

Greek houses on campus opt for smaller than usual class sizes FROM RUSH PAGE 1

Delt took one. EKT and KD are still participating in COB, according to Barloga.

All eight sororities saw smaller rush classes than last year’s combined fall and winter rush classes. AXiD and Kappa extended 15 and 14 fewer bids, respectively — the largest drops of any houses.

Of the 387 students who registered for sorority rush, 73% received a bid, according to Office of Greek Life director Brian Joyce. The remainder either dropped during the rush process or did not receive a bid. The percentage of those who received a bid is higher than previous years’ fall rushes — 64% in 2019 and 62% in 2018 — but lower than most winter rushes — 82% in 2020 and 81% in 2019. 89.2% of fraternity members who registered for rush this year received a bid.

Fraternity rush typically involves potential new members attending “prerush” events spread throughout previous terms, followed by “shakeout” events, where members receive a bid after houses vote on whom they would like to admit.

Phi Delt rush chair Max Schindel ’22 said that virtual rush felt “much less organic” because of the technical limitations of Zoom, which inhibit side conversations and other interpersonal aspects of traditional rush.

“I think a huge component of rush … was getting to know brothers really organically and getting to meet them in a variety of circumstances,” Schindel said.

Kahl said that some Alpha Chi members in the Upper Valley were able to schedule one-on-one coffee chats and meals with potential new members, but most of their events remained online — taking the form of virtual game nights and small group calls — to mitigate

COVID-19 risk.

Andrew Bricklin ’23, who accepted a bid at Chi Gam, said that he enjoyed the virtual events but noted that they were “not amazing,” and he found the most meaning in one-on-one coffee meet-ups with members.

“I don’t think anything virtual compares to being in person,” Bricklin said, adding that it is unlikely he will be able to get to know as many seniors in Chi Gam before they graduate, given the later rush cycle and his lack of access to the house.

For sorority rush, APhi president Bruna Decerega ’21 and rush chair Nicole Aboodi ’21 wrote in an email that the fully virtual and therefore more structured nature of this year’s rush process “actually allowed for the conversations to be less surface level” because conversations were longer.

“It was a little crazy, but I think overall they did a really nice job of doing it on Zoom,” Jenna Myers ’23, who accepted a bid at Sigma Delt, said of the overall process.

Myers added that she had a “really positive rush experience,” but she did have to request extensions from professors on several assignments due to the time commitment.

“I had five parties on one day in round one and then a midterm the next day, so that was a really tough turnaround,” she said. “[Rush] can definitely be very time consuming, especially if you’re taking some difficult classes.”

EKT recruitment chair Laurel Semprebon ’22 said that the Inter-Sorority Council tailored the size of parties to each house’s membership, so smaller houses like EKT had a greater number of smaller events. This left the members

tired, she said, but less “overwhelmed” by the number of potential new members in each of the initial rounds.

Some houses made changes to their rush processes in response to concerns raised last summer during the 20X Challenge, which sought to shed light on issues of equity, diversity and inclusion in Greek spaces. Decerega and Aboodi wrote that the ISC designed a “bias training program” with input from sororities that focused on educating members on “topics of racial/cultural and socioeconomic exclusivity.”

Additionally, much of the fraternity rush process normally relies on potential new members deciding to attend events and reach out to houses, but this year, houses made greater efforts to reach out directly to potential new members, Schindel and Kahl said. They speculated that this effort, spurred by COVID-19, may have lowered barriers to entry to rush in a way that would also help address issues of exclusivity.

For Myers, Sigma Delt “stood out” as “encouraging those conversations” about diversity and inclusion throughout rush.

She said that she questioned her desire to join the Greek system, a system she said was “built for white people.”

“I think it’s really important to be critical of the systems that you’re in … [and] not to lose sight of the fact that Greek life can have potentially unintended consequences,” Myers said. “… It shouldn’t just be all about throwing parties and who can drink the most Keystone, but instead should be a place where we support women regardless of racial background, gender ... or sexual orientation or any of that.”

The sorority’s matching algorithm used to pair students and houses has also

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caused potential new members and sorority members some confusion, according to Semprebon. The program, used by sororities nationwide, is designed to take into account sororities’ and potential new members’ preferences when deciding which students will be called back to which houses during each of the three rounds.

“I don’t think it’s well understood,” Semprebon said, adding that the computer program was explained to recruitment chairs but that additional transparency may be helpful for future potential new members. Semprebon said that points of confusion included whether or not houses rank potential new members or simply submit lists of people they would like to call back, as well as whether or not “singlepreffing” — a potential new member only marking one house as acceptable on the final night of rush — is penalized in the algorithm.

House leaders said new member education at all houses will, like rush, take

place largely virtually. Kahl said that Alpha Chi has focused on online game nights, for example, and Semprebon said EKT will organize virtual big and little meetups.

Additionally, some in-person opportunities may be available. Decerega and Aboodi wrote that meals, walks and “sister dates” are possibilities, and Semprebon said she hopes each local new member will get the chance to visit EKT at least once by the spring.

ISC president Mahalia Dalmage ’21 declined to comment.

Decerega and Aboodi are members of The Dartmouth staff.

Correction appended (Feb. 2, 2021): A previous version of this incorrectly stated that APhi and other sororities designed the bias training program. The article has been updated to reflect that the ISC led the process.

College’s Black Legacy Month to celebrate achievements of women B y Manasi Singh

The Dartmouth Staff

This article was origionally published on Feb. 2, 2021.

The College’s Black Legacy Month celebration will kick off Tuesday night with a virtual ceremony highlighting Black culture through poetry, song and art. Throughout February, Black Legacy Month events, which will include community forums and leadership spotlights, will aim to amplify and recognize the Black community on campus and around the country.

The theme for this year’s celebration, “Defining a Generation: The Triumph, Power and Legacy of Black Women,” will center the accomplishments of Black women in particular. The planning committee decided on this year’s theme as a way to highlight the women who have made significant contributions to Dartmouth, as well as Black history as a whole.

Events will be hosted by professors, student leaders, alumni, Greek life organizations and other Black community members, all targeting different aspects of Black legacy and history.

Black Legacy Month chairperson Ana Sumbo ’22 said the focus on Black women’s accomplishments arose after reflecting on cultural movements initiated and led by Black women over the past few years, such as #MeToo and #SayHerName.

“We had a lot of conversations about how Black women have been essentially erased from movements they started to protect Black women,” Sumbo said.

“These are movements started specifically about creating visibility around not only missing Black women, but also Black women who experience sexual assault.”

Anthony Fosu ’24, another member of the Black Legacy Month planning committee, echoed Sumbo’s sentiment.

“We felt that especially the contributions of Blackwomenhavebeenovershadowed,” Fosu said. “For example, [Black women] started the Black Lives Matter movement.

And we’ve seen this past summer how that’s not only captivated the streets, but it’s kept captivated the corporate world and is now seen as this blossoming of Black culture, excellence and arts.”

Unlike past years, this month’s events will be held mostly over a virtual platform

in order to increase accessibility to those off campus and maintain COVID-19 safety.

Zoom links to the events will be available on the Office of Pluralism and Leadership website.

Fosu added that the committee has also planned a few in-person, on-campus components to the celebration, including banners and art showcases.

Certain events will be open exclusively to the Black community or participants of certain gender identities, but Sumbo emphasized that community members are encouraged to participate in events open to all.

“We want the rest of the Dartmouth community to engage with Blackness,” Sumbo said. “But we also are providing a platform to learn more about our community.”

On Sunday, prior to Black Legacy Month’s official kick-off, history professor Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch hosted a “speed stories” event to highlight the experiences of Black Dartmouth professors. The College’s programming will continue on Friday with “Smart, Funny and Black” — a competition on knowledge of Black history, culture and experience — hosted by comedian, actress and producer Amanda Seales of HBO’s “Insecure.”

The focus will then shift to gender within the Black community. On Feb. 11, separate men’s and women’s forums will be held for students of the Black and Pan-African community to discuss experiences as individuals at and outside of Dartmouth.

A “Black Student Leader Spotlight” film will be screened on Feb. 18, and the month will conclude with a National Pan-Hellenic Council virtual party on Feb. 19, which will be open both to the Black community and larger Dartmouth community to “experience togetherness” through bonding and music.

“One other thing that we’d like to accomplish through this Black Legacy Month is highlighting the excellence and accomplishments of Black student leaders on campus and also those of Black faculty and staff,” assistant dean of pluralism and leadership Angela Brizant said.

Brizant added that while the events are primarily directed to the student body and staff currently at Dartmouth, alumni are also welcome to attend open events.

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021

PAGE 3

STAFF COLUMNIST NATALIE DOKKEN ’23

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST KATHERINE ARRINGTON ’24

Essential and Exploited

It’s Supposed to Be a Living Wage

The pandemic has underscored substandard working conditions in the service industry.

This column was originally published on Feb. 2, 2021.

conditions are left to choose between being unemployed or accepting an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 every time they clock When the pandemic began to spread into work. In essence, service workers with prethroughout the U.S. last spring, seemingly existing conditions must decide whether their everyone praised “essential workers” for putting life is worth their paycheck — a decision that their lives on the line to keep society running. no person should have to make.

While such praise was well-intentioned, it It bears emphasizing that inadequate pay, did little to change the fact that many of those nonexistent sick leave and lackluster health care workers face substandard working conditions benefits are issues that workers in the service without receiving proper compensation. While sector are faced with even when there isn’t a companies might benefit from a culture where global pandemic. These conditions existed well exploitation of employees is before the pandemic arrived, both expected and accepted, “Throughout the and are unfortunately likely workers suffer. to exist well after things pandemic, workers T hough the service return to normal. However, industry has never been from across the as COVID-19 has forced us glamorous and often requires service industry all to reckon with how much long hours without adequate risk we are willing to accept compensation, the pandemic have expressed their when going about our daily has brought to light the frustration with lives, it has become clear severity of this exploitation that for some, the odds were lackluster sick leave and has continued to feed stacked against them from its existence. Throughout policies, struggles the beginning. the pandemic, workers making customers

Although some may from across the service argue that service workers industry have expressed their follow COVID-19 deserve their dismal pay and frustration with lackluster protocols and fears benefits due to the level of skill sick leave policies, struggles and education those positions about losing their making customers follow require, I would argue that COVID-19 protocols and jobs.” affording employees who are fears about losing their jobs. providing an essential service In fac t, COVI D -1 9 with a living wage and decent prompted many employees to leave the jobs benefits is the humane and moral decision. Being they had prior to the pandemic. While some able to live comfortably, without fearing the portion of those who left the industry did so consequences of an unexpected illness, accident voluntarily, others were forced out as companies or national crisis, should not be a luxury only tried to mitigate the financial hardship imposed afforded to those fortunate enough to afford a by the pandemic. While these layoffs may be college education. perceived as an unpredictable and unavoidable Many essential workers choose to work in the side effect of the pandemic, they also illuminate service industry because it was the only option the substandard sick leave policies, health care to which they had access given the education, benefits and employee protections alloted to those opportunities and resources at their disposal. To who work in the service industry. simply applaud these workers for a sacrifice they More than half of service workers work were more or less forced to make in order to keep without paid sick leave or adequate health food on the table means little, unless that praise is care, and most make less than $15 an hour. coupled with demands for workers to be treated As a result, if they contract COVID-19, many better and compensated for their heroism. service workers have to decide between forgoing We must demand that companies protect their a pay check by reporting their diagnosis to their workers, especially during times of national crisis employer or going into work sick anyways. The and personal hardship, by implementing stronger former, although the more ethical choice, would sick leave policies, providing more comprehensive likely force the employee to stay home without health care benefits and paying workers a living pay — a decision that for some service workers wage so that a single emergency doesn’t cost them can mean the difference between being able to their home, car or financial security. Moreover, pay rent for the month or being homeless. we as consumers should treat those workers with Meanwhile, those with preexisting health the respect and appreciation they rightly deserve.

The federal government needs to raise the minimum wage.

This column was originally published on Feb. 1, 2021.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 introduced the first across-the-board federal minimum wage in American history. The aim was that the minimum wage — 25 cents per hour at the time — would provide a standard to protect the health and well-being of people in working-class jobs. The thought was that workers should at least be able to support themselves by working full time.

The reality of the current minimum wage, however, does not resemble its intended purpose. Over half of all minimum-wage workers are adults, and at the current federal hourly rate of $7.25, a full-time, 40 hours per week worker with no vacation makes only $15,080 per year. For a household of one, this is only $2,200 above the poverty threshold. For a family of two, it is $2,340 below the poverty line, and for a family of three, it is $6,880 below. And that’s before Social Security and Medicare come out of the paycheck. When people work full time at a minimum-wage job, yet can barely support themselves — let alone any children or other dependents — the minimum wage is clearly not serving its purpose.

Our economy depends on minimum-wage jobs. Child care workers, janitors, delivery drivers and restaurant workers are all vital.

Imagine a world without them: no babysitters, no clean streets and no restaurants. Keeping the minimum wage below a living wage devalues these jobs and their importance to society.

A livable minimum wage would also decrease the amount of federal spending currently allocated to welfare. At $7.25 an hour, full-time workers cannot afford to feed their families, meaning they often fall back on government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — food stamps. Raising the minimum wage to $15 would reduce dependence on these programs, and thus save money.

A higher minimum wage would also have an immediate positive effect on the overall economy. Most minimum-wage workers do not have much disposable income, and as a result, most of what they earn gets spent immediately on basic necessities like food, rent and other bills. Increasing the wages of minimum-wage workers would thus have an immediate effect on local economies. More disposable income to go around means increasing the market for local goods and services, thereby directly

stimulating the economy.

The most common argument against increasing the minimum wage is that such an action would cause a shortage of jobs and increase unemployment, as businesses would have to fire workers rather than pay increased wages. However, substantial research has shown that raising wages actually works as intended: It increases the income of the working class without creating a significant drop in employment rates. In fact, thousands of small businesses and many business groups have gone so far as to endorse a $15 minimum wage, and companies like Amazon and Walmart have started to raise their wages on their own accord in response to public demand. Besides, businesses face deeper issues if overworking and underpaying their employees is what they must do to survive.

The United States’s current minimum wage is actually lower in real value than it was in 1968: adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage then would amount to $11.90 today, 164% of the current minimum wage. Even since the minimum wage was raised to $7.25 in 2009, the cost of living has gone up with inflation. The fact that our minimum wage is lower in real value than it has been in the past should be a cause for concern. If the minimum wage rose proportionally with labor productivity since 1968, it would be $21.25 today. Instead of increasing with the cost of living and labor productivity as it should, the minimum wage has decreased. Thus, not only do we need to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage, we should adjust it for inflation each year to prevent the minimum wage from depreciating in value as the cost of living goes up.

It is unjustifiable that any Americans should work full time and still be unable to provide for themselves and their loved ones. For both the economic and social benefits, Congress should pass legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 as soon as possible. A $15 minimum wage would make a minimum wage worker’s yearly income $31,200 per year, allowing workers to support themselves and families of four people while staying above the poverty line, without too much of a cost to business prosperity.

After that, they should institute a plan for the minimum wage to increase with the cost of living, so that we do not end up in the situation we are in today again. Raising the minimum wage is the first step in reducing the greater issue of income inequality; it is essential that we take it boldly and immediately.

THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST GRACIE DICKMAN ’24

Verbum Ultimum: Money Talks

Amnesty for Honesty

With enough money and the threat of bad PR, the College can be pushed around.

Last Friday, College President Phil Hanlon unexpectedly announced that the five varsity athletic teams cut last summer — men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s golf and men’s lightweight rowing — had been reinstated. In his email, Hanlon attributed the change to the discovery that “elements of the data that athletics used to confirm continued Title IX compliance may not have been complete.”

The vaguely worded announcement made no mention of what prompted it: a litigation threat. The women’s swimming and diving teams and the women’s golf team had recently hired a lawyer, Arthur Bryant of Bailey and Glasser, to accuse the College of violating Title IX. Just a day before Hanlon’s email, the College settled with the teams: Dartmouth would be required to immediately reinstate the women’s golf and women’s swimming and diving teams and conduct a major gender equity review of its athletic programs.

The cut teams, especially the swimming and diving teams, have been a frequent topic of conversation in recent months for their public attempts to gain reinstatement. The swimming and diving teams’ months long campaign included extensive social media pushes, letters of support from Olympians and other Dartmouth athletes and allegations that the College discriminated against Asian athletes with the cuts. After all of that, what ultimately proved effective was the most recent effort — a threatened Title IX lawsuit.

The success of the teams in overturning the College’s decision, however, was only possible given the vast amount of resources at their disposal. From receiving more than $1.6 million in pledged donations to laying hundreds of pairs of goggles on the Green, the teams have shown that they have an enormous amount of funds available to them. With the aid of wealthy parents and alumni, the teams could afford — unlike many others — to find and hire a top

lawyer to threaten the College with a costly lawsuit. Those with fewer resources at their disposal, of course, have no such option available to them when negotiating with Dartmouth.

Following the decision to cut the teams last July, athletics director Harry Sheehy cited a list of reasons why the College decided to cut those five teams rather than slash athletic recruitment across the board, such as not wanting to hurt the competitiveness of the majority of sports. But those arguments seem to have been abandoned after a Title IX claim, a costly PR nightmare, was brought against the College.

It isn’t hard to see why Dartmouth caved at the threat of Title IX litigation. Despite the College’s renowned academics, its public image remains marred — often rightly so — by a number of high-profile scandals. Gender equity is a frequent area for criticism. As the last Ivy League school to admit women, hardly a year goes by without a gender-related issue at the College making the national news. The recent lawsuit against the College for allowing pervasive sexual harassment of female graduate and undergraduate students to persist in the psychological and brain sciences department was just the latest in a line of public relations disasters. The teams, with the backing of a high-profile lawyer, threatened another such scandal for the College.

Dartmouth had previously stated that no tactic nor sum of money could bring the teams back. Yet, the teams found a way. Putting aside the question of compliance with Title IX and whether or not the decision to cut or reinstate the five teams was the right one, the decision should come as a wakeup call. With enough money and resources and the specter of bad press, the teams had the power to push Dartmouth into giving them what they wanted.

The editorial board consists of opinion staff columnists, the opinion editors, the executive editors and the editor-in-chief.

The administration should grant amnesty for students caught breaking rules through contact tracing.

This column was originally published on Feb. 1, 2021.

incentive to lie.

I recognize that the administration has instituted new policies aimed to make As on-campus students approach the middle socializing while still following COVID-19 of winter term, COVID-19 still maintains a guidelines easier. There are fire pits and a presence in Hanover. The current number of skating rink set up on the Green, and students active cases among students sits at 10. This are now allowed into dorms other than their number, while seemingly low, is relatively high own. Following the rules has become less compared to the numbers throughout fall term. difficult than in the fall.

Even with a vaccine in sight,

That being said, outbreaks are still possible. “An amnesty policy while I don’t condone Contact tracing — tracking b r e a k i n g C OV I D - 1 9 where someone who has would help eliminate guidelines, it would be tested positive went, with the incentive to be unrealistic to believe that whom and for how long — is some students aren’t going dishonest during often key to mitigating the to break the rules anyway. spread of cases. Contact contact tracing.”

The College should tracing has always been a incorporate that reality into part of the administration’s its strategy. The thought plan to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but process shouldn’t be, “How do we stop students with one change, it can become much more from breaking the rules, and how do we punish effective. In order to best protect the health them if they do?” Rather, it should be, “As of the community, Dartmouth should institute much as we try to stop students from breaking an amnesty policy for students involved in the rules, they are going to anyway, and how contact tracing after a student tests positive. can we get as much information as possible in An amnesty policy would help eliminate those situations to help prevent a breakout?” the incentive to be dishonest during contact Yes, the proposed amnesty policy would tracing. When being questioned for tracing, let some students off the hook. Students who students are likely to lie about who they’ve violate the guidelines should be aware of the been with and when in order to avoid risks they create and should be ready to bear admitting to breaking the school’s COVID-19 the consequences of doing so. I understand and guidelines. Few students would knowingly rat believe in the importance of making people out their friends, and without amnesty, they face consequences for their actions, but I also are unlikely to name many contacts if they or believe that keeping people healthy is the the people they contacted broke College rules. priority that trumps all else at the moment. The Students are disincentivized, through fear of administration must be realistic and recognize punishment, from being honest and thorough that it can’t afford to make punishing people in their cooperation with contact tracers. for their actions the main priority right now An amnesty policy for students caught — not when people’s health, and potentially breaking COVID-19 restrictions through their lives, are on the line. The main goal contact tracing would be a positive tool in of the administration should be to keep its preventing the spread of COVID-19. The students, faculty and the Hanover community release of an official College policy to this safe, and ensuring that students will honestly effect would clear the air and reduce the participate in contact tracing is a part of that.

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Q&A: Olympian Alexi Pappas ’12 on her new book, ‘Bravey’ B y Sabrina Eager The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 1, 2021.

Alexi Pappas ’12, who rose to fame as a member of Greece’s cross-country team in the 2016 Summer Olympics, is not just an athlete.

At Dartmouth, Pappas studied poetry in the creative writing department and did improv with the Dog Day Players.

Since graduating, she has pursued her passion for storytelling as a producer on several films, including the 2019 romantic comedy “Olympic Dreams” — in which she starred alongside Nick Kroll.

Pappas’ new book, “Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain and Other Big Ideas,” which was published on Jan. 12, discusses her experiences with confidence, mental health and her aspirations through a memoir-in-essays.

On Feb. 15 at 7 p.m., Still North Books and Bar and Women of Dartmouth will host a virtual conversation on the book between Pappas and actress Rachel Dratch ’88.

In an interview with The Dartmouth, Pappas discussed her experience as a Dartmouth student, author and athlete, and how she reflected on these experiences in her new book.

How did your time at Dartmouth lead you down a path where you were able to combine your passion for athletics with the arts?

AP: I think Dartmouth was a great place to do more than one thing because the campus was small enough and the opportunities were big enough that we can pursue many things. I remember many days when I would go straight from cross-country practice to Dog Days rehearsal to the library to write, and I think that is made especially possible in a place that has those opportunities and is small enough to manage getting from one place to the other. It felt like the energy at the campus made more things feel possible. I felt like it was OK

and even celebrated to pursue the arts and sports.

What inspired you to write “Bravey,” and why did you decide to write a book rather than produce a movie, given your experience with filmmaking?

AP: Thinking back to my experience at Dartmouth, I started out as an improv performer and a writer; creative writing was my focus there, with an emphasis on poetry. I think that carries over very well to dialogue writing in movies and now writing a book — there are little poems in the book as well. I think that each medium has its strengths and is special for different reasons, and I think books and memoirs in particular have a really unique place in the world. It just felt like the right place and the right medium to tell the whole story.

I think what a book does really well is that it allows me to share more about what was going on in my mind specifically and how I was thinking. I think that’s one of the things I love most about reading memoirs: not just learning about what people did, but about how people think.

How did you decide on the narrative approach that you took to tell your story?

AP: The book has an emotional arc rather than a narrative arc. I think that allowed me to jump pretty seamlessly from athletic experiences to creative experiences to family and personal and college experiences because it was more about my emotional growth. That’s not unique to any one of those environments; it was happening all simultaneously and overlapping. I think that’s why I chose the essay format for the book rather than a narrative structure.

What were the most challenging and surprising parts about writing a book compared to other kinds of writing you have done in the past?

AP: I think finding the words to describe

an experience is so different than having the experience. With a movie, there’s the ability to use visuals and to have your actors bring things to life and interpret them. With a book, it’s really a more direct connection between the experience and the reader. The challenging part was finding those words.

That was also the best part about it, too, but it took time to make sure I found the words for those experiences that would communicate to the audience because a memoir is different from a diary.

Do you have any upcoming projects that you are excited about or ideas for projects that you hope to pursue at some point in the future?

AP: I am working on my first television show, which is really exciting, and there’s still a lot about it that’s a secret. That’s a new world for me a little bit, moving from film to television. I have a couple film projects, a feature film that I’m planning to shoot this spring and another project that I’m working on that has to do with the Olympics. I’m working with a great team that put together “The Last Dance,” which is the Michael Jordan documentary. Then I’m an athlete, and that’s just been interesting with COVID. Thankfully I’ve still been able to train, and we’re just seeing what races will be available given it all.

Do you have any advice for any aspiring athletes, writers or creative artists that you wish you had known while a student?

Alexi Pappas ‘12 published her new book “Bravey” on Jan. 12.

AP: Truly take the opportunities that you have when you have them and understand that even if you think things are evergreen, opportunities are rare and special for a reason. That plays perfectly into my choosing to go chase the Olympic dream when I did, which was really terrifying. I thought about going to grad school for poetry and got into all these schools, and it felt scary, but the right thing.

Then I think just, if you want to make

something, just begin making it. School is so important to learn those tools, but there’s nothing to be substituted for experience and trying. And that’s what we did, you know, by making our first movie right after college, even though I hadn’t gone to the same kind of film programs that some other filmmakers do.

As for Dartmouth, make the most of the resources and the people there. I developed relationships with my thesis advisers and I applied for grants to help

COURTESY OF ALEXI PAPPAS

make my dreams come true. Cynthia Huntington was my adviser, and she truly changed my life. There are a lot of really generous professors at Dartmouth that will take the time. There’s a lot there that’s special. When you are at Dartmouth, as much you can, be there and make the most of that, instead of thinking too much about the moment after you graduate.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

Hood virtual gallery talk to explore the intersection of art and history

B y CHLOE JUNG

The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 4, 2021.

In an upcoming gallery talk, Allison Carey ’20, curator of the Hood Museum of Art’s “When Art Intersects History,” will revisit and reexamine her exhibition nearly a year after its debut.

Carey’s exhibition, which compares the use of perspective between art and historical texts, first opened at the Hood last March. Almost immediately after the exhibition went up, the pandemic hit, and the Hood shut down. The museum’s closure prevented Carey from holding a gallery talk, which usually would have let her explain her exhibition and spark discussions on the themes it explores.

“When Art Intersects History” features a small collection of works exploring the ways in which art can both document and influence history.

Pieces in the exhibition center around social justice movements in the 1960s and 1970s, including desegregation, the Vietnam War, the resurgence of feminism, the Civil Rights Movement, Native American rights and the gay rights movement, among others.

On Wednesday at 4 p.m., Carey will finally get her chance to answer questions about her exhibition through a virtual talk hosted by the Hood. The event will also feature a live camera feed so that viewers can experience the gallery virtually.

Despite the exhibition’s focus on art and events in the 1960s and 1970s, Carey said she hopes that viewers can still find applications to the present in the selected works.

Amelia Kahl, curator of academic programming and head of the Hood’s internship program, said that the delay in presenting Carey’s exhibition may have inadvertently heightened its relevance in light of current events.

“As 2020 unfolded and we saw Black Lives Matter demonstrations, and we saw more people getting visibly involved in the fight for social justice, her show had an even greater resonance,” Kahl said.

Emily Andrews ’22, a member of the Museum Club, echoed Kahl’s

COURTESY OF BRIAN WAGNER

“When Art Intersects History” opened last March shortly before the Hood’s closure.

sentiments.

“I think it’s really interesting that [the gallery talk is taking place] soon after the inauguration of Joe Biden,” Andrews said. “I’m choosing to view right now as a kind of period of transition. And so I think that this exhibit corresponds well with that, because a lot of these artworks do show … people trying to grapple with uncertainty.”

Carey said she became interested in curation while studying art history at Dartmouth, and she spent her senior year interning as a student curator for the Hood. “When Art Intersects History” evolved out of Carey’s work in the Hood’s “Space for Dialogue” program, created in 2002, in which student interns can draw from the Hood’s collection to curate

an exhibition.

In normal circumstances, Hood interns have the opportunity to showcase their exhibitions to Dartmouth students and the local community through an in-person gallery talk. Although Carey said she was initially disappointed by having to host her gallery talk virtually, she expressed gratitude for the Hood’s efforts to ensure her work did not go unrecognized.

“I think it would have been very easy to brush my show under the rug,” Carey said. “[But] now they’re doing a great alternative to an in-person talk.”

Carey added that from the beginning, the process of curating an exhibition was challenging. With over 60,000 objects from the Hood’s collection to choose from, she recalled having to narrow her exhibition down to

approximately 12 works of art. Carey’s interest in exploring social justice through a historical lens helped her hone in on pieces of art and historical moments related to the second half of the 20th century.

“I’ve always had a deep interest in the intersection of art and equality,” Carey said. “I’m really interested in how art can open up new narratives surrounding different forms of equality and how art can reframe the past to help us understand the present moment we’re in right now.”

Carey also added a Dartmouth connection to her project. She searched through The Dartmouth’s archives in the Rauner Special Collections Library, where she found articles describing events related to her selected works of art, such as desegregation at the

College. By featuring articles from The Dartmouth in the exhibition, Carey said she hopes that the show will have a more personal resonance for members of the Dartmouth community.

She added that she hopes audiences will walk out of her virtual gallery talk with a new understanding of the possibilities of art and the types of dialogue it can generate in conversation with other mediums.

“This show is my way of trying to very explicitly show why art is important, because art is giving us perspectives that we may not have seen otherwise,” Carey said. “I hope that my show can help a greater public understand that and see the importance of different forms of art and culture and society of the past, present and future.”

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021

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SPORTS

Teams lash out at AD Sheehy on ‘explosive’ Zoom call

By Justin Kramer

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 2, 2021.

Even after College President Phil Hanlon announced the reinstatement of five athletic teams on Friday morning, the wounds from the teams’ elimination more than six months earlier were still fresh.

Tensions boiled over between the athletics department and members of the five restored teams — men’s and women’s golf, men’s lightweight rowing and men’s and women’s swimming and diving — during a 7 p.m. Zoom meeting on the evening of the teams’ reinstatement.

Dartmouth reinstated the teams and agreed to conduct a gender equity review after the women’s golf and women’s swimming and diving teams threatened litigation, alleging that Dartmouth was in violation of Title IX. Over the hour-long call, led by athletics director Harry Sheehy and senior associate athletics director for varsity sports Tiffani-Dawn Sykes, student-athletes demanded accountability, apologies and answers to concerns over remaining competitive after losing incoming students from two recruiting cycles, along with coaches, transfers and training time.

Men’s swimmer Ethan Moon ’22 characterized the meeting as “entertaining” and “explosive.”

“It was chaos,” said for mer Dartmouth swimmer Connor LaMastra, who transferred to Northwestern University after his team was eliminated. Moon said the meeting served as “catharsis for the athletes.” “[Sheehy] came into this call, [and] he very well knew what was about to happen,” Moon said. “We were going to rip him a new one, and he couldn’t stop us. And so that’s exactly what we did.”

Men’s swimmer Parker Hershberger ’22 said the tone of the meeting troubled him from the outset, claiming the athletics department had dismissed the impact of the past six months on the athletes and teams.

Tensions fir st spiked when a swimmer demanded Sheehy apologize for a July comment to The Dartmouth in which he said that the College “[wasn’t] willing to create second-class citizens in [the athletics] department that weren’t able to compete on an Ivy League level.” Sheehy said the athletes had misinterpreted his quote — which was meant to defend the decision to cut teams rather than reduce recruitment slots across all sports — and declined to apologize.

His response sparked a strained back-and-forth that culminated when the Zoom meeting spontaneously ended, which Sykes told the athletes was accidental.

When the meeting restarted, the reinstated student-athletes further pressed Sheehy to apologize for cutting the teams, to which he obliged.

However, calls for concessions only grew.

Women’s swimmer Susannah Laster ’22 said she and her roommates specifically asked Sheehy to apologize to the women’s teams for potentially violating Title IX through the cuts.

After Laster’s question, other members of the swimming and diving teams interjected, and Sheehy eventually apologized to the women “for being wrong.” Sheehy emphasized to the athletes that Dartmouth would move forward with the gender equity review promised in the settlement, which will determine whether the College is in compliance with Title IX. “There was a lack of empathy” on the part of the athletics department during the call, Laster said, which Hershberger said was emblematic of the athletics department’s treatment of student-athletes after they were eliminated.

Multiple athletes said they pushed for accountability from the athletics department, unsatisfied with explanations from Sheehy and Sykes about the factors that led to their teams being cut and how Title IX compliance data “may not have been complete,” as Hanlon wrote in email on Friday.

Toward the end of the call, LaMastra denounced Sheehy and

COURTESY OF CONNOR LAMASTRA

Former swimmer Connor LaMastra, who transferred to Northwestern University when his team was cut, said the Zoom meeting was “chaos.”

directly asked if he would resign.

Sheehy said he would not. When he then asked Sheehy for a personal apology, Sheehy responded, “I’m sorry you transferred,” which LaMastra said felt like “a slap in the face.”

After the meeting, LaMastra argued that the athletics department needed a “complete rebuilding from the ground up,” a sentiment echoed by several others.

“When an administration has failed in a process like this, in such an egregious way and continuously degraded and been disrespectful and dismissive of their athletes, I think there needs to be a total revamping of the athletic administration, starting with the removal of Harry Sheehy,” LaMastra said.

Moon expressed more sympathy for Sheehy, however.

“I almost feel bad for [Sheehy] because he’s clearly been boxed into a horrible, horrible lose-lose situation,” Moon said. “… But I actually feel most bad for him because in [Friday’s] email from Hanlon, Hanlon so clearly threw him under the bus.”

Requests for comment from Sheehy and Sykes were directed to College spokesperson Diana Lawrence, who did not respond directly to requests for comment about the Zoom meeting or calls for Sheehy’s resignation.

“As President Hanlon said in his community message on Friday, we sincerely apologize that this process has been, and continues to be, so painful to our current and former student-athletes and all who support them,” Lawrence wrote in an email. “… We look forward to partnering with the coaches and student-athletes as this process moves forward.”

The hostile Zoom meeting on Friday night was the start of what student-athletes anticipate will be a long and difficult rebuilding process.

As the reinstated teams now attempt to transition smoothly back into practice and competition, studentathletes voiced concerns over their teams’ competitiveness, recruitment capabilities and level of trust with the athletics department.

T he reinstated teams have lost almost two recruiting classes, according to Laster, as some incoming recruits in the Class of 2024 have transferred. Still without coaches, the teams cannot yet recruit for the Class of 2025, so they may lose “eight to 10 months” of recruiting in total, according to LaMastra. Moon described the remaining pool of available recruits as “the leftovers.”

Members of all three sports expect to find themselves several strokes behind when competition resumes.

Since former Dartmouth golfer Kaitlyn Lees and one incoming recruit from the Class of 2024 transferred, women’s golfer Katherine Sung ’24 said that her team will not be competitive in its first season back.

The swimming and diving teams lost recruits to Ivy League rivals such as Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University and have been out of the water for months, according to Moon.

“It’s going to take several years for us to be even semi-competitive again because the current sophomores,

juniors and seniors have not been training, essentially at all,” said Moon, who has not swum in about eight months.

For the swimming and diving teams, this is not the first time that they will have to recover after facing cuts. When the teams were previously eliminated in 2002, it took the women’s team until 2009 and the men’s team until 2012 to finish above second-to-last place in the Ivy League championships, though the teams were already struggling before they were cut.

Hershberger was more optimistic about the team’s competitive chances, but he questioned how the swimming and diving teams can recruit athletes going forward after being cut twice in

18 years. LaMastra agreed.

“Even just cutting a team once is brutal, but having a team get cut twice — I don’t know as a recruit why I would go to a school where the athletic department simply just does not believe in a team,” LaMastra said.

Athletes from all three sports expressed unease about recruitment, though Moon expected the weakened competitiveness of the team to be the primary issue for future recruiting rather than issues with the athletics department.

Hershberger underscored the importance of trust in trying to heal the fractured relationship between the reinstated teams and the athletics department.

“How do we regain the trust of

the athletes that are on the team?”

Hershberger asked. “And how do we regain the trust of those prospective athletes who maybe do want to come to Dartmouth but are wary of the relationship between the team and the athletics department?”

As concerns about competitiveness and recruitment loom over a rocky start to reinstatement, student-athletes centered on one priority: accountability from the athletics department.

“I’m looking forward to working with the athletics department and the administration on how we can make Dartmouth athletics better because that’s ultimately what needs to come out of this,” Hershberger said. “But I also believe that there needs to be some degree of accountability.”

Portland Timbers select Dawson McCartney in MLS SuperDraft

By OLIVIA MORTON & BENJAMIN ASHLEY The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 2, 2021.

On Jan. 21, Dawson McCartney, former Dartmouth midfielder and member of the Class of 2021, was selected 43rd overall in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft by the Portland Timbers, becoming the fifth player from Dartmouth drafted to play in MLS in the past four years.

McCartney spent three seasons at Dartmouth before transferring to the University of Notre Dame in December. During his time at Dartmouth, McCartney was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2017 after finishing the season with two goals and a team-high eight assists while helping lead the Big Green to an Ivy League title with a 6-0-1 record in conference play.

He followed up his stellar freshman campaign with six goals and six assists over the next two seasons, earning Second Team All-Ivy honors each year.

McCartney said making it into MLS has been a lifelong goal.

“It’s been one of my dreams ever since I can remember,” McCartney said. “It was an amazing feeling.”

Teammate Tiger Graham ’21 said he was “really excited” to hear McCartney had been drafted into MLS. “I think it’s a big achievement for him,” Graham said. “I know playing professionally was his big goal, so I’m glad to see he was able to make it happen.”

McCartney looks back fondly on his time at Dartmouth, particularly appreciating his teammates and their impact on his Dartmouth experience.

“I loved all my years at Dartmouth,” McCartney said. “[I] couldn’t have asked for a better three years. I had an amazing group of guys. … Just an amazing experience.”

Before arriving at Dartmouth, McCartney played soccer at YSC

COURTESY OF DAWSON MCCARTNEY

The former Ivy League Rookie of the Year was selected in the MLS SuperDraft.

Academy, a high school that combines academics with a rigorous soccer program run by the Philadelphia Union Academy, an MLS team development program. McCartney worked his way through the Union Academy onto Bethlehem Steel FC, a United Soccer League affiliate team, and made his professional debut during his senior year of high school.

G r a h a m , wh o p l aye d w i t h McCartney in high school and at Dartmouth, emphasized McCartney’s desire to win as a quality that always stood out.

“Every day in training, he was the hardest working player,” Graham said. “He hates losing. It doesn’t matter how small of a drill [or] game it is. ... [McCartney] will do whatever it takes to be the winner at the end of the game.”

Dartmouth head coach Bo O s h o n i y i e c h o e d G r a h a m ’s sentiments.

“Every training session, every match that we played, he always walked off as the best player on the field,” Oshoniyi said. “That

was because of his intensity, his willingness to work hard [and] his willingness to pick up teammates as well — he was just phenomenal with that.”

The pandemic-delayed season threw a wrench in what would likely have been a typical ascent to MLS for McCartney. His reporting date is unclear, but he hopes to begin playing in Portland soon.

While McCartney was the only Ivy League player drafted this year, he joins four other former Big Green players drafted in recent years: Matt Danilack ’18, Justin Donawa ’19, Eduvie Ikoba ’19 and Wyatt Omsberg ’18.

For now, McCartney plans to focus on earning a spot on the Timbers roster.

“My immediate goal is to earn a contract,” McCartney said.

“Obviously nothing is handed to me. I have an opportunity to go out there and prove myself and earn a spot on the roster. … From there, [I want to] try to be as much of an impact player as I possibly can over the year.”

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Home Again: A Reflection on Being Back in Hanover B y Anne Johnakin The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 3, 2021.

“Aren’t you so happy to be back?” my mom asked as we drove across the bridge to New Hampshire for the first time in nine months. It was dark, so she couldn’t see the tears I blinked away. They weren’t tears of joy. I was anything but happy to be back.

In the past few months, it started to feel as if I attended Dartmouth only in a dream. I’d forgotten what it was like to walk across the Green, eat at Foco and stay in the library until 2 a.m. It’s hard to miss something you feel like you never had. I didn’t start to get excited until the car ride up to campus, but even then my excitement was measured. With COVID-19 restrictions, I didn’t know what world I’d be walking into.

I vividly remember arriving at Dartmouth last winter. I stepped off the Dartmouth Coach and took a deep breath of the Hanover air that I missed so much during the six weeks I had been gone. Back then, six weeks felt like an eternity. Before last fall, I had never loved a singular location; I had never felt so deeply at home take-one flyer for bartending classes. anywhere.

But they put signs on my trees But now, when I breathed in telling people to wear masks. And Hanover air after nine months, it in the fall, the ’24s walked on my felt leaden. I couldn’t swallow the sidewalks. Lived in my old dorm. Sat amount of love I had for this place, in my favorite cubicle in the stacks. but it didn’t feel like mine anymore. There are footprints of new students I was expecting myself and Hanover and new people everywhere. to pick up exactly where we left off. It Other changes feel big ger, was raining on the day I left, and it was transforming the ways I can inhabit raining the day I arrived — there was a this place. I can’t access my favorite circularity to it all spots on campus that should have “I’d forgotten what it — places that been satisfying. made Dartmouth Early in this was like to walk across feel like pandemic, it felt the Green, eat at Foco Dartmouth. My like we all reached to socialize and stay in the library ability an agreement that is limited, and normal life had until 2 a.m. It’s hard Zoom classroom simply paused. We to miss something you discussions are would stay in our nothing like the houses for a few feel like you never real thing. Try weeks, nothing had.” as I might, it’s would change and impossible to then we’d hit play convince myself and go back to that nothing has changed. normal. Naively, I thought coming On every street cor ner, my back to Dartmouth would be exactly memories from freshman year play like that. And in some ways, it is. out like a movie before my eyes. The There are relics of the “before times” ones that I return to most are from the everywhere. A poster in Novack of a last week of winter 2020, when it felt poetry reading I went to last winter. A like the walls were closing in and I did

LILA HOVEY/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

everything I could to ignore it. It was in the Theodor Geisel Room in the library that I finally allowed myself to read all the New York Times articles about the coronavirus. It was in One Wheelock where I sat between two of my best friends and finally grasped that we would be leaving. It was the front lobby of the Hop where I watched the Dartmouth Coach pull away, and I sobbed and sobbed because who knew how long it would be before I saw some of the people I loved most.

Everything has changed. And this isn’t only Hanover’s fault — it’s mine too. For better or worse, I am a different person than I was a year ago.

I have a year of grief on my shoulders, as we all do. Never have I felt more alone, or more hopeless. I imagine my year looked much like yours, marked

by COVID-19 scares and weeks without leaving my room. I had to trade a campus full of laughter and happiness for my room at home with silence and blank walls. But months spent by myself led to the sweetest of reunions. I have hope that things are on the upward trend. I have hope that this year will be better.

I’ve been waiting for months to find a sense of closure. Seeing the Green

for the first time again, I felt like it was In the time since being back, the finally time. Dartmouth has always adjustment period has been harder been the place where I do my best than I ever would have expected. thinking. Walks around Occom Pond Things that I once wouldn’t have and sitting in the silence at BEMA batted an eyelash at, like going used to offer surefire solutions to my through the line at Foco, make me problems. Grappling with 2020 is a feel like I’m drowning. After so long larger issue to tackle, and I have faith with nothing, having everything back that if anywhere can help me start is overwhelming. Yet, in between the healing, it’s Hanover. It’s home. moments where I feel lost, there are I’m grieving moments where for so much, and “Things that I once everything feels t h e p a s t ye a r wouldn’t have batted nor mal. I find hurt everyone in calm sitting with so many ways, an eyelash at, like friends in the so the memories going through the line library studying I could’ve had and taking walks seem like a small at Foco, make me feel in the snow. I concern. But I like I’m drowning. may not be totally still find myself happy to be back, After so long with reaching for the but to be frank, p e r s o n I w a s nothing, having I’m not totally and the person everything back is anything these I was becoming days. in the first part overwhelming.”

I hope of freshman year.

Dartmouth I think I could missed me like I choke on my happy memories of missed it. I’m scared of having to heal “Old Dartmouth” if I let myself. But and move on and keep going without that Dartmouth is gone, and the bar the ones we’ve lost, but the pandemic is lower now. I can start making new has already stolen so much time from memories to supplement the old. me. I won’t let it steal any more.

WOULD YOU, COULD YOU, IN THE SNOW?

CAROLINE KRAMER / THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Students flooded the Green for the annual midnight snowball fight on Tuesday.

LAST WEEK’S CROSSWORD ANSWERS