The Dartmouth 03/26/2019

VOL. CLXXVI NO. 2

SUNNY HIGH 37 LOW 9

OPINION

KAPLAN: A DISGRACE TO DISCOURSE PAGE 4

ARTS

REVIEW: ‘TRIPLE FRONTIER’ HAS A BLOATED PLOT WITH BORING CHARACTERS PAGE 7

REVIEW: ‘US’ IS A NEW MASTERPIECE THAT BLENDS HORROR AND COMEDY PAGE 7

REVIEW: ‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ IS A BLOCKBUSTER WITH AN INDIE TOUCH PAGE 8

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TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Dartmouth student Former Dartmouth administrator and alum receive named 12th president of USC scholarships B y HANNAH JINKS

The Dartmouth Staff

Following the U.S. State Department’s designation of the College as a top producer of Fulbright scholars, Dartmouth students and alumni have also encountered success with other selective scholarship programs. Aaron Karp GR’19, and Rex Woodbury ’15 have been named recipients of the Luce and Knight-Hennessy scholarships, respectively.

The Luce Scholars program is a national fellowship program,

which was launched by the Henry Luce Foundation in 1974. Selected scholars travel to Asia to gain professional experience in their area of interest. The Knight-Hennessy program is a graduate-level scholarship program for study at Stanford University. KnightHennessy Scholars receive full funding to pursue any graduate or professional degree at Stanford, including joint and dual degrees.

Karp will begin study as a

KASSAUNDRA AMANN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

SEE SCHOLARSHIPS PAGE 3

Q&A with professor Erich Osterberg B y LORRAINE LIU

The Dartmouth Staff

of global warming. Aside from research, Osterberg also furthers his passion for climate change study by teaching EARS 2, “Evolution of Earth and Life.”

Since coming to Dartmouth as a post-doctoral fellow in 2007, Osterberg has taught EARS 2, EARS 14, “Meteorology” and upper-level courses in the earth sciences department.

Earth sciences professor Erich Osterberg grew up with an interest in weather and climate change. While completing his master’s degree at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, Osterberg conducted field research and studied ice core samples and their relationship to climate change. His most recent Yourresearchfocusesheavily research on ice core samples on climate change and how from Mt. Hunter in Alaska led him to compelling evidence SEE OSTERBERG PAGE 2

Carol Folt, pictured here in 2013, spent 30 years of her career at Dartmouth as a professor and administrator.

B y THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF Carol Folt, whose 30-year tenure at Dartmouth included serving as provost and interim president of the College, was named the next president of the University of Southern California on Wednesday.

Her appointment comes one week after USC was affected by an admissions scheme involving efforts by wealthy parents to gain their children entrance to elite universities by falsifying entrance exam results and lying about students’ status as athletic recruits. Three USC athletic coaches — as well as the university’s senior associate athletic director — were charged by the Department of Justice in

a case that encompasses over 50 people and at least seven other universities.

A statement from USC announced that it had placed holds on accounts of students it believed to be connected to the case, preventing them from registering for classes or acquiring transcripts while their cases are reviewed. The University also identified current applicants associated with the case and said that they would be rejected.

In 2012, when College President Jim Yong Kim left Dartmouth to become president of the World Bank, Folt, then the College provost, was named interim President — becoming the first woman to hold that title at Dartmouth. She was

succeeded by Phil Hanlon ’77 in June of 2013.

Months before, Folt had cancelled classes at the College for a day following student protests against the College’s stance toward sexual assault, racism and homophobia on campus, a decision that sparked national media coverage.

Folt was quoted in the New Hampshire Union Leader as saying that the campus was a “pressure cooker very close to exploding” as she explained her decision to a crowd gathered outside Dartmouth Hall. A poll conducted by The Dartmouth at the time found that 67 percent of students disagreed with Folt’s decision to cancel SEE FOLT PAGE 5

PAGE 2

TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Osterberg’s research reflects passion for climate science FROM OSTERBERG PAGE 1

it is reflected in air pollution and ice core samples. Can you talk a little about how you got interested in these topics in the first place?

EO: I’ve been interested in climate change for a really long time. My sixth grade year-long research project was about greenhouse effects and climate change. I grew up in a time when the global community was just starting to understand the impact that humans have on temperature. I love weather, I love storms. I think my friends, growing up, assumed that I would become a weatherman someday because I just love the weather. I also really enjoyed earth sciences, and so all those things came together. While I was doing my master’s

degree in New Zealand, I discovered glaciers and mountaineering. And so those things came together too, and I just found myself drawn to the ice cores because they are such a powerful way to look at climate in the past.

Two February articles on your research on the Alaskan ice core samples and climate change mentioned that you and your team have been conducting field research on Mt. Hunter since 2008. What did you and your team do as part of this field research?

EO: We’ve been very interested in how climate has changed around the North Pacific region because there has been a lot less attention paid to that, and it is a very important place that affects

A note from the Publisher B y AIDAN SHEINBERG

Founded in 1799, The Dartmouth is America’s oldest college newspaper.

Since its beginnings in the 18th century, the newspaper has undergone numerous changes. The name has changed three times, from The Dartmouth Gazette to The Daily Dartmouth to its current version, The Dartmouth. We have printed issues with varying page counts and sizes, modified the sections of the paper and altered the geographic scope of coverage.

Beginning yesterday, March 25, The Dartmouth has changed once again. Our paper has transitioned from an 11-by-14 inch tabloid format to the new dimensions of 11.375-by11 inches.

This modification comes as The Dartmouth relocates its printing press operations to Upper Valley Press, following the close of our previous printer Valley News, which has closed its local printing press and moved its operations to an offset printing facility

in Penacook, NH. Based in North Haverhill, NH, Upper Valley Press has a long-standing reputation in the local newspaper industry, and we look forward to our partnership with them.

As the broader newspaper industry evolves, we too will continue to evolve to ensure The Dartmouth meets the needs of its readers and provides highquality, trustworthy, independent news and information to the Dartmouth community. Two hundred twenty years after its founding, America’s oldest college newspaper is optimistic about the road ahead.

We have always taken pride in our dedicated base of readers and recognize the importance of maintaining a close connection with the community we serve. To that end, we invite and welcome your feedback moving forward. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at editor@ thedartmouth.com or publisher@ thedartmouth.com.

Aidan Sheinberg is publisher of The Dartmouth.

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

climate change in the United States and elsewhere. We wanted to find a place in Central Alaska where we could collect a good ice core. Starting in 2008, we began conducting expeditions every year. We were using a radar system to figure out how deep the ice was in different places to identify good ice core sites. And we found a great site in 2013. We had a really ambitious expedition to collect two ice cores at the top of this mountain.

Collecting two ice core samples from the same spot had never been done before, as far as we know. What we found is that temperatures are warming in the mountains faster than they are warming at sea level. We’ve seen two and a half to three and a half degrees Celsius of warming over the last century, and we see a 60-fold increase in melts on this glacier — 60 times higher today than it was a hundred years ago. And we’ve seen this doubling of snowfall up on that mountain, which may sound strange to people. After all, when you think of climate change, you might think of less snow. But what we often see with climate change is more rainfall, and here on the top of the mountain, it just doesn’t ever rain. So, for example, here in New England, we’ve seen more and more rainfall with climate change, and it’s the same kind of story up there. It’s just that it’s so high up in the mountain that it all falls as snow.

Why are ice core samples a good indicator of climate change?

EO: There are lots of reasons why ice cores are very useful for understanding climate change. One is that with ice cores, we can often see climate change in individual seasons going back through time. Sometimes we can get 10 or even 20 samples in a single year, going back thousands of years. So oftentimes when we look in the past with geological records, we can only see one sample every decade or one sample every century. With ice cores we have a much finer view of what’s happening. Another reason is that we can see so many different things happening in the climate system all in one record. We can see how storms are changing, how temperatures are changing and how pollution is changing.

We can actually record the amount of greenhouse gases, which are what are

causing all the changes. And lastly, ice cores are usually recovered from the polar regions, Greenland and Alaska, and these are the areas that are experiencing the most rapid climate change. These are also the areas that are the most sensitive to the climate change, so it’s very scientifically useful to get records from these sites.

You also mentioned in the articles that people should start doing something about climate change.

What actions do you think should be taken to address climate change?

EO: Probably the most important thing that everyone can do is vote, and vote for people who make climate change a priority. We need to start addressing this on a national and international level. We can all do individual things in our own lifetimes by thinking about our energy use, particularly when we make big decisions like buying a car or buying a house. But what we really need is larger action on a national level, and that’s not going to happen as long as the folks in Washington don’t think it’s a priority for us. We’re starting to see that happening now, I think. It was really interesting how little climate change was talked about for the last decade, since the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009. And now, all of a sudden, in this election cycle, we’re hearing a lot more about climate change, particularly among Democratic candidates. I’m optimistic that it’s becoming a larger part of the national conversation, and that needs to happen for us to coordinate on a national level.

But I think for students at Dartmouth, it’s thinking about their own energy footprint: thinking about when they fly, when they drive, when they buy a car, when they’re leaving Dartmouth and making these big life decisions. Thinking about their energy impact and making sure that they get out to vote.

What classes have you taught at Dartmouth so far?

EO: I’ve taught a lot of different classes.

I’ve been here since 2007, and I’ve been really fortunate to teach classes from oceanography, marine geology, up through advanced climate dynamics.

Classes I teach every year are typically

EARS 2, “Evolution of Earth and Life,” which is a really fun class to teach because we are often teaching to non-majors. It’s a large class and often one of the one or two science classes that many students would take in their Dartmouth careers.

In the course, we teach the entire history of the Earth, and I think it’s important for students to have a sense of how we got to where we are today. Not just as a species, but as an entire planet. And that feeds into the larger discussion of climate change. We look at the past and see how climate changed naturally, what that did to animals and life on this planet and what caused those things. What we keep seeing over and over is that CO2 is really important, and relatively small changes in the climate can have massive impacts on the life on this planet. And then EARS 14, “Meteorology,” is another class that I teach quite a bit, as I sort of mentioned that it is my original true passion.

What part do you enjoy about teaching at Dartmouth in general?

EO: The students are incredible. They are super engaged, they are incredibly bright and talented. They want to learn.

It’s a real joy to interact with students like that on a daily basis, both in the classroom and in my lab with students who choose to do research with me.

What are some of the current research projects that you are working on?

EO: We are continuing to focus on the polar regions with the ice core work.

We have two different ice cores from the South Pole, and we’ve just finished analyzing them in the lab. We’re working on trying to understand how the climate has changed over the last several thousand years. I’m also focusing quite a bit on climate change happening right now. We are focused on melting in Greenland and how fast that has been happening over the last few decades.

We are trying to understand how much of what we see up there is from human causes and how much is from natural cycles. What we’re seeing is that human CO2 is playing a larger and larger role in the amount of melting that we see SEE OSTERBERG PAGE 5

TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Scholarships provide funds for postgraduate research FROM SCHOLARSHIPS PAGE 1

Luce Scholar after he completes his master’s degree in digital musics at the College. He will receive a stipend, language training and professional placement with an arts organization.

The specifics of his placement have not been finalized, but Karp said he hopes to match with South Korea or Japan.

Karp said that his passion for music extends back to his childhood — he has played the violin and the viola since he was three years old. As an undergraduate at Northwestern University, he pursued majors in music and computer science, for which he developed a passion in high school.

Dartmouth’s Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies’ master’s program in digital musics reconciled these interests, according to Karp.

“I started my undergraduate degree in viola performance, but by [my senior year], I also grew interested in composition, and my computer science research involved music as well,” Karp said. “[Dartmouth’s program in] digital musics is a perfect opportunity to combine computer science, music composition and the performance experience I have.”

Karp added that his research at Northwestern and Dartmouth helped him stand out in an accomplished pool of applicants. He said he researched novel music and audio interfaces for individuals with visual impairments through Northwestern’s Interactive Audio Lab. At Dartmouth, he developed a multimedia installation in the Black Family Visual Arts Center that uses generative visual and sonic algorithms to mimic avian flocking behavior. His master’s thesis focuses on the theory and application of mass audio surveillance and machine learning in sound.

“What drew me to [the Luce Scholarship] is that you don’t pitch a specific project like you would with [the Fulbright Program],” said Karp. “You pitch yourself and your direction and, as a result, the program is incredibly open and fluid.”

Karp added that he is focused on experimental, electronic and

electroacoustic composition as well as sound installation. He said the Luce Scholarship program offers unique opportunities in these fields because of its location. “[All] of those areas have incredibly rich histories and contemporary communities in Asia,” said Karp.

Woodbury plans to pursue an MBA at The Stanford Graduate School of Business. Leadership development workshops and mentorship opportunities are available to each cohort.

Woodbury graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He fostered passions for athletics and LGBTQ+ advocacy while in high school and college. At Dartmouth, he ran varsity cross country and track and eventually set the Guinness World Record for fastest half-marathon while wearing a suit and tie. As an openly gay athlete, he realized the unique struggle of reconciling his sexuality with sports culture. He created the Connect Mentoring Program for members of the LGBTQ+ community to help others in his position. After graduation, he founded Worthy Mentoring, a nonprofit organization with similar ambitions, and appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show for his work.

He explained that his passions extend to technology, education and social impact. He worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs before becoming chief of staff at TPG Growth and The Rise Fund, an environmental and social-focused impact investment fund.

Woodburysaidhedevelopedinterest in the Knight-Hennessy scholarship in part due to its multidisciplinary, community-focused environment.

He added that the program parallels Dartmouth’s liberal arts curriculum, which exposed him to multiple fields of study and encouraged “breadth and depth of learning.”

“My time in Hanover showed me that the world’s most intractable problems require multidisciplinary solutions,” said Woodbury. “[This is also] a foundational belief of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program.”

The selection processes for the Luce

and Knight-Hennessy scholarships differ. Each candidate for the Luce scholarship must first be nominated by one of 75 participating U.S. colleges and universities, including Dartmouth. The Knight-Hennessy scholarship accepts and encourages international applications and does not require formal nomination from the candidate’s alma mater. However, both scholarship programs evaluate candidates by a similar set of criteria, such as leadership, civic involvement and academic achievement. Only 18 scholars were selected from a pool of 162 nominees for the Luce scholarship — roughly equal to 11 percent of nominees; the KnightHennessy program accepted 69 out

of 4,424 applicants — roughly equal to 1.5 percent of applicants.

Assistant dean of faculty for scholarship advising Jessica Smolin said she loves to see Dartmouth students represented in extremely competitive fellowship programs.

She noted that the Knight-Hennessy scholarship program has included Dartmouth students in both of their inaugural cohorts — Woodbury is the third Dartmouth alumnus to receive the award.

“It’s wonderful to see students like [Karp and Woodbury] who are doing really groundbreaking, innovative work,” said Smolin.

Smolin emphasized that both current students and alumni may

receive advising from Dartmouth’s fellowship center.

Karp and Woodbury both said they are ecstatic and grateful for the opportunity to study their respective fields in Asia and in Stanford’s highlyranked business school.

“It’s certainly not something I expected to be awarded,” said Karp.

“I would not have been able to study and work in Asia if it weren’t for this scholarship, so I’m very excited.”

Woodbury said he is “so excited to be part of a group of people who share a desire to change the world.”

He added that his support system has enabled his success, and he hopes to utilize his opportunities to help the less fortunate.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION STAFF

Opinion Asks:The Mueller Report Opinion writers respond to the release of the Mueller report

On March 22, special counsel Robert Mueller released to the U.S. Attorney General the reults of his investigtion into collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign. While the report found no evidence of collusion, it neither recommended charges nor exonerated the president on charges of obstruction of justice. We asked opinion writers for their responses to the release.

The conclusion of the collusion investigation is a good thing for everyone in American politics and all who are affected by government functions. Trump presents a far greater threat through actual policy platforms, and dragging the legislature through more investigations and impeachment proceedings takes away the opportunity to focus on the legitimate reasons to vote against him in 2020. Feasting on scandal and short-term problems is a terrible way to mobilize long-term and large-scale opposition to Trump’s re-election. Democrats should be thankful that they can now turn their attention to fundamentally more pressing issues surrounding the administration’s conduct. Democrats can develop their own serious policy goals beyond removal and strategize about who and what to bring into the new era of opposition to the Trump administration.

Only serious plan of action can draw in the voters needed to prevent another round of the Don. -Teddy Hill-Weld ’20 The Mueller report summary found no evidence of collusion, though it did not exonerate President Trump from obstruction of justice. The conclusions are frustratingly vague — though perhaps that’s only relative to how the probe has been sensationalized since the beginning of the Trump presidency. But

more importantly, I doubt the report will actually change anyone’s mind . Trump’s opponents are still likely to see him as guilty and may continue to think that there is something the investigation missed or failed to bring to light, while his supporters might buy into Trump’s “witch hunt” antics even further and continue to sympathize with him. Sadly, for many Americans, I think that the results of the Russia investigations were etched into their minds long before this week. - Ioana Solomon ’19 The Mueller report is not the last word on Trump’s presidency. Presented in front of a Senate gripped by Republicans who value keeping their office over American law, it was bound to prove almost inconsequential. Although conservatives seem to gleefully take Trump’s “exoneration” as a victory, it doesn’t make up for Trump’s fundamental flaws. Trump was elected by Americans who either espoused his ideology of bigotry or were complacent in the face of it. Of course, the fact that the public has yet to see the Mueller report makes it impossible to take the report seriously — the lack of transparency from our government would be laughable if it weren’t so appalling. But Trump has been in office for over two years now, and we have more than two years’ worth of actions by which to judge his presidency. Anyone who’s kept up with Trump’s action as president will know that it hardly matters to him if he was elected legitimately. And consider his continued attacks on Muslims, the LGBT community, women, the poor and other minorities, or the irresponsible actions taken against the American economy, environment and foreign relations. Trump is a terrible president, and that fact overshadows the conclusion of a report the public can’t even see. -Raniyan Zaman ’22

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GUEST COLUMNIST ALEC KAPLAN ’21

A Disgrace to Discourse

I was the Dartmouth College Republicans’ treasurer. Here’s why I quit.

On Oct. 23, 2018, the Dartmouth College Republicans hosted controversial speaker David Horowitz in an event titled “Identity Politics and the Totalitarian Threat from the Left.” Horowitz, founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, has a history of comparing Muslims to Nazis and believes that universities brainwash students with leftist propaganda. The talk received numerous protestors. Some highlights of the event included Horowitz stating that “the only serious race war in America is against white males” and telling a student “I wouldn’t help you if you were drowning” in response to being told that black Americans do not need his help.

Up until that day, I had served as both the treasurer of the Dartmouth College Republicans and a member of the College Republicans’ executive board. Many of my friends, both liberal and conservative, asked me why College Republicans chose to invite Horowitz. After all, Horowitz spoke at the end of October, just two weeks before the 2018 midterm elections. The Dartmouth College Democrats had already hosted both Molly Kelly, the Democratic nominee in the New Hampshire gubernatorial election, and Congresswoman Annie Kuster ’78, who represents New Hampshire’s 2nd District. The College Republicans were certainly not short of options. Two local Republican governors, New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu and Vermont’s Phil Scott, both faced reelection. Meanwhile, Republican nominee Steve Negron challenged Annie Kuster for the 2nd District, and Eddie Edwards sought to reclaim the nearby 1st District, which had turned blue in 2016. But the Dartmouth College Republicans didn’t invite any of these promising Republican speakers. They invited David Horowitz.

Members of the College Republicans, myself included, found the decision shocking. I heard nothing about Horowitz’s invitation until a week before the event. That lack of transparency, coupled with the decision by the College Republicans’ to invite him, prompted me to step down as treasurer and quit the organization. My replacement, current treasurer Eashwar Sivarajan, joined the Groupme of the Dartmouth chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, where he encouraged members to “organize some resistance” to the Horowitz talk.

The College Republicans aren’t the organization I used to know. During the 2017-18 academic year, Dartmouth College Republicans created a welcoming community for conservative students while encouraging dialogue with other groups on campus. The club welcomed input from all members during meetings. We organized a number of events,

including meetings with officials from the New Hampshire Republican Party and multiple dinner discussions, co-hosted with College Democrats, on issues like the Antifa movement and climate change.

In April, College Republicans came together with College Democrats for a debate on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as well as other economic issues in America.

Since this fall, however, the College Republicans have shifted away from respectful discourse and abandoned the community they supposedly represent. The last meeting with an open invitation to campus happened in September, and the College Republicans’ only messages to the campus events listserv during winter term concerned the club’s most recent speaker. The College Republicans haven’t hosted a single recent event with College Democrats, and dialogue between the two groups appears to be finished. Instead of reaching out to campus and trying to bring more students in, as it used to, the College Republicans have shut their doors to anyone who does not follow its newfound fringe ideology.

On Feb. 11, College Republicans brought Dinesh D’Souza ’83 to campus. D’Souza, a convicted felon, pleaded guilty in 2014 to making illegal campaign contributions. He also wrote a book in 2007 called “The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11.” In February 2018, D’Souza mocked survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on his Twitter account. The College Republicans’ decision to invite him only confirmed the disconcerting shifts within the organization.

Meanwhile, the Dartmouth College Democrats brought multiple presidential hopefuls to campus, including New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand ’88 and Washington Governor Jay Inslee. New Jersey’s Senator Cory Booker and New Hampshire Representative Annie Kuster visited in October, less than a week after the David Horowitz talk.

While the College Democrats invite high-profile political leaders, the College Republicans brings in far-right provocateurs. The College Republicans must do better if they hope to make meaningful contributions to Dartmouth’s campus.

Last month, the current treasurer of College Republicans, my successor, wrote an opinion piece attacking the editorial board of The Dartmouth and the larger Dartmouth community for not respecting the “conservative minority.” He claims that The Dartmouth’s opinion writers remain dominated by “pernicious progressivism” and were “too busy complaining about alleged oppression to devote time SEE KAPLAN PAGE 6

TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019

Folt to assume new position on July 1 FROM FOLT PAGE 1

classes and that 57 percent thought the administration’s response to the protests was “somewhat ineffective” or “very ineffective.”

At the College, Folt served in a variety of administrative roles, including associate dean of faculty for interdisciplinary programs and the associate director of Dartmouth’s interdisciplinary Superfund Basic Research Program. An environmental scientist specializing in the effects of mercury and arsenic on aquatic life and human health, she joined the biological sciences department in 1983 and would later go on to serve as dean of graduate studies and dean of faculty before being appointed provost in 2010.

Folt left Dartmouth in 2013 to become the first woman chancellor of the University of North Carolina

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

at Chapel Hill. Earlier this year, Folt announced her resignation from that position following her decision to remove the controversial “Silent Sam” statue on campus out of safety concerns. Students, in protest of the statue’s memorialization of the Confederacy, had torn the statue off its base in August. The UNC Board of Governors accepted Folt’s resignation but told her to step down by Jan. 31, even though she had originally said she would step down in May. Folt will assume her position at USC on July 1, replacing interim president Wanda Austin. Austin assumed her position when former president C. L. Max Nikias stepped down from his role in August 2018 after students and alumni alleged the university failed to act on accusations of sexual misconduct against then-campus gynecologist George Tyndall.

Osterberg utilizes ice cores in research FROM OSTERBERG PAGE 2

there. And I focus a lot on the climate here in New England. We’re looking at how extreme storms here are changing in New England — like hurricanes and really extreme thunderstorms that cause flooding and widespread damage to the community. We want to learn more about how those are changing with climate change and how they’re related to changes in the jet stream — things like the polar vortex that people have heard about. And climate change here even has connections to Lyme disease. My wife is a pediatrician, and in our time here these last 10 years, we’ve seen an explosion in Lyme disease in the Upper Valley and more broadly in New Hampshire and

Vermont. We’re also looking into the future using climate models and trying to figure out what the climate here in New England and in Antarctica is going to look like in the future as sea levels rise due to glacial melting in Alaska and Greenland.

What do you enjoy about doing research at Dartmouth in general?

EO: I think what makes Dartmouth unique is that we really do emphasize both teaching and doing research. We are a undergraduate teaching university that focuses a lot on our undergraduate students in what we are doing in the classroom and the laboratory. We do all of this while also being an R-1 research institution doing really cutting-edge

research with support from the institution to do that kind of research. I think I would really miss that balance between teaching and research at another school.

I went to Middlebury College, and I love Middlebury. I had a wonderful experience with my classes there. But I think that we’re able to offer more diverse and impactful experiences here at Dartmouth. And, if I were solely focused on research — like professors at many R-1 institutions are — I know I would really miss being in a classroom and teaching the students. So I love how both parts of my career are so important and valued here at Dartmouth.

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

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THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019

DARTMOUTHEVENTS

TODAY

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Job Fair: sponsored by Human Resoruces, held at Paganucci Lounge, Class of ’53 Commons

5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Community Connections Fair: sponsored by Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, held at Common Ground, Collis Center

6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Poetry Reading: A Robert Frost Poetry Reading of “You Come Too”, sponsored by the Department of English & Creative Writing and the Crossroads Academy 7th grade class, held in Sanborn Library, Sanborn House

TOMORROW All Day

Exhibition: “Daniel Webster & the Dartmouth College Case,” sponsored by the Library, held in Rauner Special Collections

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Town Hall: Dartmouth Town Hall hosted by College Executive Vice President Rick Mills, sponsored by the office of the Executive Vice President, held at Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Seminar: “The Arctic water cycle in a warming climate,” speaker Dr. Karl Kreutz, Professor, Climate Change Institute and School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, sponsored by the Thayer School of Engineering, held at Spanos Auditorium, Cummings Hall

FROM KAPLAN PAGE 4

to actually listening to what D’Souza had to say.” I agree that conservative students are the political minority at Dartmouth.

However, suggesting that we face open hostility from campus institutions is an overstatement. The current treasurer’s claim reinforces a false narrative pushed by David Horowitz that conservatives face persecution on university campuses across the United States.

What’s more, my successor implies that D’Souza and the College Republicans, in their new, far-right form, still represent the conservative community. This is, sadly, no

longer true. Until the leadership of the College Republicans stops complaining about its alleged victimhood and recommits itself to respectful dialogue, it will continue to lack both legitimacy and dignity.

Kaplan is the former treasurer of the Dartmouth College Republicans.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019

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Review: ‘Triple Frontier’ has a bloated plot with boring characters B y madison wilson The Dartmouth Staff

“Triple Frontier” dropped on Netflix earlier this month with little advertisement but has since exploded into an online sensation. However, I think that the film’s high ratings can be attributed to the hype from its attractive, star-studded cast rather than the quality of the film itself.

The film had a long arrival period — it has been in and out of production for years, with various big names coming in and then pulling out of the project.

Director J. C. Chandor finally settled with a leading cast of Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal. However, even this all-star cast was not able to pull the script out from the depths of boredom and predictability.

Oscar Isaac stars as Santiago “Pope” Garcia, a private contractor working to root out insidious drug lord Gabriel Martin Lorea. After years of searching, Pope finally finds Lorea’s home address and assembles friends from his U.S. military days (Affleck, Hedlund, Hunnam and Pascal) to help him scope out the house and, eventually, kill Lorea

and steal all his drug money. The bulk of the action, however, takes place after the initial murder and robbery, as the crew tries to smuggle mountains of Lorea’s cash out of the titular region — the Triple Frontier area between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil — back to the States. They struggle to move the massive amounts of cash efficiently, eventually having to make certain sacrifices in order to make it out of the region alive.

Isaac is the clear star of the film. His portrayal of Pope is dynamic yet concise, always keeping Pope’s central goal — ridding the region of drug lord Lorea — as the driver of the action. Pope is not written as a deeply complex character, and Isaac stays true to that. We get occasional moments of tenderness, with informant-turned-lover Yovanna played

by Adria Arjona, that add interesting layers to Isaac’s performance, but a wandering plot and subpar supporting actors muddy his portrayal. Also, Pope has almost no backstory: What was his life like before this mission?

As Tom “Redfly” Davis, Affleck also gives a convincing performance but gets bogged down in the stereotypical acting that defines the film. His character has a

family, which provides his central motive throughout. However, Affleck plays this character too simply, boiling Redfly down to a few simple things: he has a family, lives an unhappy life and has post taumatic stress disorder. That’s about all we get from Redfly, and it’s a shame because Affleck has so much more potential.

Other characters also feel underdeveloped. Hunnam, famous for his role as Jax in “Sons of Anarchy,” plays William “Ironhead” Miller, the unwavering moralist of the group.

Hunnam plays Ironhead almost the same way he played Jax: a man who is loyal to his friends, has a strong senses of right and wrong and care deeply about his family. It’s all well and good, but it’s predictable.

Hedlund plays Ironhead’s brother Ben Miller , or Benny, , the kind meathead — again, predictably. Pascal performs as Francisco “Catfish” Morales, who is a more complex character than the others, quiet and intriguing. We never learn his backstory, but Pascal hints at something dark — perhaps a drug problem? — and some lingering effects of PTSD. Despite Catfish’s potential to be a much more unique and compelling character, he

stays an enigma for the entirety of the film, never quite becoming a real person, like every other underdeveloped trope of a character in this movie.

I don’t think these failings are necessarily the fault of the actors themselves, but rather the fault of the film’s screenplay, which narrates a bumbling and bloated plot, too full of unnecessary twists and turns to allow the actors to bring their chracters out of the realm of the predictable. We never learn about any character’s backstory.

This denies the audience the opportunity to gain more insight into characters’ personal lives, thus making it impossible for these actors to give us well-rounded, complete and innovative characters. As is true for the film as a whole, I was left feeling like so much potential was wasted.

I was most interested in the moral message “Triple Frontier” poses. To summarize without including spoilers, as their stash of money dwindles, the crew must make continual sacrifices. With this, the film poses a question: Were the crew’s sacrifices worth it? How much are we willing to give up for wealth? I was left thinking about Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” — a

completely different work with a similar moral argument. How much of ourselves must we sacrifice for the ultimate prize?

The film also meditates on the origins of greed. Each character has their own reasons for wanting all this cash and each initially believes he “needs” the money but ultimately comes to the realization that he really does not. While these are poignant messages, the script spends too much time wandering through the South American jungle to properly explore them.

The biggest disappointment of “Triple Frontier” is director J.C. Chandor. After thought-provoking, surprising and fascinating works like “A Most Violent Year,” “Triple Frontier” feels like a lackluster follow-up. The audience can clearly feel that this film could be more, but its twisty-turvy plot and occasionally overly explosive acting dilute this potential, making the overall experience low-impact and dull. We’re left feeling like there could have been a better ending, something that would have left us with more meaning. While entertaining at a surface level, “Triple Frontier” falls very, very short of the anticipation generated by its stellar cast.

Review: ‘Us’ is a new masterpiece that blends horror and comedy B y james cronin The Dartmouth

It’s been a while since I’ve been as excited to see a movie as I was to see “Us,” the new film directed, written and produced by Jordan Peele. Like millions of people, I was blown away by how unexpectedly good Peele’s 2017 film “Get Out” was, so I came in to “Us” with high expectations, looking for something just as thought-provoking and well-constructed. While I don’t think that “Us” has “Get Out” beat, I still think it’s a fantastic, smart film that should be watched by everyone looking to walk out of a movie theater all giddy — like you used to before everything became a reboot or a third sequel in a franchise. I enjoyed it so much that I gladly paid to see it twice this past weekend.

“Us” stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph and

Evan Alex as the Wilsons, a family on vacation who are confronted by evil doppelgangers. I could explain more, but trust me, going into this film as blind as possible will make the viewing experience all the better. “Us” is a movie that’ll defy your expectations because it’s so unique in the best of ways.

The performances — so key in a movie where nearly every actor plays two versions of themselves — were fantastic. Nyong’o delivers not one, but two stellar, Oscar-worthy performances — some of the best I’ve seen in recent memory. Duke, who you might recognize as M’Baku from “Black Panther,” does a great job going between being appropriately terrified and providing the film with some cathartic comedic relief. All of the child actors did as good a job as any director could have wanted.

Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss, who play friends of the Wilson family, have

a hilarious rapport and deliver some of the best laughs in the film. Moss made an especially strong impression in her short screen time.

While I think this movie is technically perfect in all aspects of direction, there are some parts of the script that irked me. The reveals toward the end of the movie were most definitely awesome in the most literal sense of the word, but below the surface there are some logistical plot holes that were kind of hard to ignore. I’m conflicted because I love this movie, but Peele asks the audience to make some pretty large leaps. The question I’ve been asking myself is, “Does it matter if the last 20 minutes make perfect sense?” That might sound like an obvious yes, but regardless, I had a wonderful experience and was able to chat excitedly with my friends afterwards about our interpretations of the film’s meaning. Thematically, the message of

“Us” got across — assuming I understood it correctly — so I can’t fault an otherwise airtight, amazing script for minor things like logistics. The script, despite its flaws, was still overwhelmingly compelling and fresh.

On my first viewing, I thought the tone was a bit all over the place. More than once, a dramatic moment was undercut by an admittedly funny but seemingly inappropriately-timed joke. This didn’t detract from the movie for me, but it did leave me a little confused. On my second watch, I came to admire how effortlessly Peele is able to perfectly skirt the line between comedy and horror. It was my fault for thinking I was watching a straight-up horror film, or for coming in to the movie with the preconceived notion that it’d be just like “Get Out.” “Us” is its own movie with its own tone, and that’s a very good thing. My heart rate spiked like crazy when Peele wanted

it to, and I laughed when he wanted me to — a testament to his ability as a director.

One thing I absolutely loved about “Get Out,” which is also present in “Us,” is the sheer amount of tiny details you might think are inconsequential at first but either end up serving the plot in unexpected ways or give re-watches new meaning. Peele does such a good job at this that I’m now trained to believe that everything I see on screen in his movies has layers upon layers of hidden meaning.

After the first watch, I racked my brain to figure out what everything I just saw meant. Seeing “Us” a second time gave everything new meaning and made it feel like I was watching a completely different movie. On both viewings, I was thoroughly engrossed for the entirety of the runtime as a result of Peele’s ability to command the viewer’s attention.

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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2019

Review: ‘Captain Marvel’ is a blockbuster with an indie touch B y sebastian wurzrainer The Dartmouth Staff

At this point, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has garnered a reputation for tenacity when it comes to selecting unique directors whose prior work doesn’t always make them obvious candidates for mega-budget superhero extravaganzas. This strategy is noteworthy because it has paid off time and time again; the fact that Taika Waititi and Ryan Coogler have recently managed to reinvigorate the franchise with “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Black Panther,” respectively, suggests that this strategy is extremely viable.

That said, I don’t think Marvel has made a directorial choice more unexpected than the hiring of husband/wife duo Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden for their newest entry, “Captain Marvel.” Although Waititi and Coogler had certainly never made films at the size, scale and scope of

an MCU production, it is easy to see how the sensibilities demonstrated in their previous efforts translated fluidly to the arena of superhero spectacles.

By contrast, Boden and Fleck appear to be largely comfortable operating low-budget independent films. For instance, their film “Half Nelson” suggests Fleck’s ease with a quirky, abrasively indie, small-scale approach to cinematic craftsmanship.

Thus, it is invigorating to see that Boden and Fleck, like Waititi and Coogler before them, have — for the most part — managed to turn their singular style into an asset. “Captain Marvel” feels no less grand than a film like “Avengers: Infinity War,” but infinitely (see what I did there?) more intimate due to Boden and Fleck’s knack for small, characterdriven moments. Likewise, the film possesses a distinct energy that may be hard to quantify yet is nevertheless tangible in every frame. Though

“Us” is an instant classic FROM “US” PAGE 7

Peele has proven that he is not a one-trick pony. “Us” was chock-full of great cinematography and had a great soundtrack and score, as well as great editing. One scene in particular towards the end blew my mind. Watching this film is a visual feast in every way. With his well-earned reputation from “Get Out,” Peele had free reign to be as creative as possible. He very clearly nurtured the product of that creativity with great care. With both “Get Out” and “Us” now under his belt, he is quickly on his way to becoming an icon in the horror genre, and if his directing and writing ability can lend itself to other genres as well, he very well could be the best upand-coming director of this generation.

This is the first movie in a while that left me excited even after it was over.

It’s a difficult emotion to describe, but it’s that kind of magical feeling that you used to get when you were a kid and walked out of a theater, when everything was a new experience. It’s one of those movies that you argue with your friends about on the car ride home, discussing best parts, possible interpretations of the film’s subtext and the subtle but powerful details. Those are the best kind of movies for me — the ones that make me remember why I fell in love with film in the first place. “Us” felt literally refreshing, and because of that, I am able to say with total conviction that it will be hailed as one of the best movies of 2019.

the seemingly endless barrage of superhero films constantly threatens to wear the genre thin, Boden and Fleck approach the material as if they’ve only just learned that the MCU is the Big Thing in Hollywood right now.

“Captain Marvel” may ultimately just be another cog in Marvel’s carefully calculated corporate scheme, but it never feels that way, which is key to the film’s success.

Set in 1995, the story follows Brie Larson’s character Carol Danvers, or “Vers,” played by Brie Larson, a human coping with memory loss who lives amongst the alien Kree Empire and trains as an elite member of Starforce before becoming Captain Marvel. The Kree wage a seemingly endless war against their enemies the Skrull, who are shapeshifting aliens who look rather like menacing goblins in their original form. After a conflict between the two alien forces goes awry, Vers quite literally falls to Earth. She teams up with a young Nick Fury played by Samuel L. Jackson, a paperpusher who has yet to evolve into the superspy that MCU fans have come to know and love. Incidentally, Jackson’s digital de-aging is the first time I’ve seen that technique work seamlessly in a major feature film. Regardless, Vers and Fury team up, evade the Skrull, uncover Vers’ mysterious past and listen to a lot of rock/punk music from the 1990s.

“Captain Marvel,” admittedly, does not start out on the best note.

As a direct result of Vers’ memory loss, the film seeks to discombobulate the spectator by narratively jumping right into the middle of things.

Although conceptually a good idea, the execution fails to generate any real investment in the characters until a solid 15-20 minutes in. Once we get to Earth, the sailing is relatively smooth,

barring the occasional disorienting edit during an action scene and the awkward tie-ins to other MCU films.

These are all minor complaints, though, and possibly indicative of Boden and Fleck’s inexperience with productions of this scale.

For the most part, though, “Captain Marvel” feels effortless, thanks largely to Larson’s stellar performance as well as solid supporting work from Jackson, Lashana Lynch, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law and Annette Bening.

Fleck, Boden and their co-writers also manage to gracefully balance a buddy-comedy between Vers and Fury with a thoughtful examination of the reality that underlies the Kree-Skrull War. As with “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Black Panther,” “Captain Marvel” continues the MCU’s recent exploration of the devastation wrought by colonialism/ imperialism. The success of each film’s thematic core relies on its unique examinations of a strikingly similar topic: the protagonist having to confront and challenge the society they grew up in and explore the disturbing political implications of said society. “Captain Marvel” adds its distinct contribution to this larger narrative by examining the ways in which imperialist states indoctrinate their members, particularly as it pertains to controlling a powerful woman who has the potential to challenge the established hierarchy.

This brings us to the film’s gender politics. As many have already pointed out, “Captain Marvel” is the first female-led MCU film and is only the second major female-led superhero film of this generation after Patty Jenkins’ ground-breaking “Wonder Woman.” It would be a mistake to underestimate the pressure the filmmakers must have felt to

maintain the success and enthusiasm generated by Jenkins’ landmark film.

Of course, comparisons to “Wonder Woman” are inherently problematic and unfair, yet sadly unavoidable.

Thus, it’s no surprise that “Captain Marvel” has sparked heated debate: Is it empowering? It is feminist enough?

Although I’d like to consider myself a feminist, I feel that as a straight, cisgender male it is really not my place to comment on the quantity or quality of the feminism in “Captain Marvel.” Thus, I will simply report that both my sister and my best friend asserted that, as women, they felt decidedly empowered by the film.

Personally, I found the film’s depiction of an unstoppably powerful woman who is routinely suppressed by the power structures surrounding her to be both thoughtful and compelling.

Nevertheless, I’ll leave the lively, necessary and productive debates about the film’s gender politics up to voices who deserve to be heard and considered more than mine.

Overall, “Captain Marvel” is among the MCU’s best films precisely because it feels so refreshing. If we absolutely must compare it to “Wonder Woman,” then it might be fair to say that “Captain Marvel” lacks the monumentality of Jenkins’ film. Yet, that’s not a bad thing.

“Wonder Woman” aimed to respond to decades of superhero films that actively negated female presences or perspectives. “Captain Marvel” aims to normalize the notion of a female superhero while still addressing relevant issue related to gender, patriarchy, power, etc. It neither lingers on, nor ignores, its historical status, instead proceeding with a swift confidence, resulting in a film that is not flawless but rather ambitious, thoughtful and highly entertaining.