The Dartmouth 03/27/2019

MIRROR 3.27.19

DECISION REACTIONS 3

PRIVILEGES & PROGRESS 4-5

A CALL FOR CARE 7 BELLA JACOBY/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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Editors’ Note

Q&A with Professor Jeff Sharlet STORY

DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

When we think of admissions, especially at this time of year, we usually think of the college application process — and of all the rejections and acceptances that come along with it. Besides being defined as the process of gaining entrance into an organization, however, an admission can also be an admission of truth, or even an admission of guilt.

In light of recent events that have taken place on the national stage regarding admissions, it can be difficult to have faith in the concept of truthtelling. From policymakers who do their best to suppress the media to wealthy celebrities secretly tampering with their children’s admissions processes, the truth is murkier than ever. And yet, tomorrow evening, Dartmouth will admit a brand new class of students with ethusiastic acceptance letters, welcoming them to an institution that prides itself on teaching its students how to pursue the truth.

In this week’s issue of the Mirror, we reflect on admissions in all of its aspects: in college applications, in truth-telling and in the future admittances we may strive for. And while we note inconsistencies in truth across the board, we also find that individuals on this campus are striving to be better than those who have come before them — and in that, there is hope.

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03.27.19 VOL. CLXXV NO. 3 MIRROR EDITORS NIKHITA HINGORANI KYLEE SIBILIA ASSOCIATE MIRROR SARAH ALPERT EDITORS NOVI ZHUKOVSKY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DEBORA HYEMIN HAN PUBLISHER AIDAN SHEINBERG EXECUTIVE EDITOR ELIZA JANE SCHAEFFER

By Katie Cline

Despite the best efforts of the Dartmouth bubble, news permeates every second and area of our lives.

Push notifications from Twitter, Instagram and various news apps are drops in the bucket of pure content that gets dumped over our heads in the morning. Amidst all this information, it is more difficult than ever to discern fact from fiction.

This week’s theme of admissions examines the concept of truth as an admission of truth. English and creative writing professor Jeff Sharlet answered some questions about the current state of journalism, truthtelling and his personal experience entering into and thriving in the world of writing.

When did you begin writing?

Like any number of writers, I harbored dreams of becoming a writer beginning pretty much as soon as I could read. But it was a course I took my second year in college, “Literary Journalism” with Michael Lesy — a friend and mentor to this day—that really converted me to the idea that this was what I was going to do with my life. I’d gone to college thinking I was going to be an actor, or maybe a park ranger, or, if neither of those careers panned out, maybe just another lawyer. I can remember the day that changed, sitting in the library, reading “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”, a wildly overwrought grand, brilliant failure of a book by James Agee and Walker Evans, and thinking This. This is it. And it has been.

Was there one topic that sparked you desire to write?

No, but there are questions that have shaped much of my writing life. When I was 16, I watched my mother die slowly and painfully of breast cancer. Toward the end, she began summoning different sorts of religious people to her bedside to pray with her. Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, the general American range of Christians. I noticed a difference in their prayers. Some wanted her to seek some variation of salvation,

[or] hope for her soul after death.

Others listened to her and prayed with her for deliverance from death.

That divide between salvation and deliverance — the so-called hereafter and the here-and-now — has been an animating question for most of my books, even as they range widely in topic.

What medium do you prefer (short form opinion, longform investigative, Instagram post, etc.)?

I strongly dislike short form opinion, though like everybody else I binge on “takes” from time to time. For most of my writing life I’ve practiced what’s sometimes called “immersion journalism,” in which you immerse yourself in the world you’re documenting. I prefer the term “submersion journalism,” since I like to get in over my head. I never thought of myself as an investigative journalist when I was younger, since although I’d been trained at the San Diego Reader by a ferocious investigator, I was driven more by curiosity about how other people lived. Some of those “other people,” though, have been folks who might be said to be up to no good. So understanding their lives comes to resemble investigative journalism.

I’m being coy, though: Yes, I’m an investigative journalist, at times a pretty hard-nosed one. But I’m not interested, in my own writing, in the “gotcha.” If bad guys get got — and they do, sometimes, in my stories — that’s icing on the cake.

As for “Instagram post”: this question must be made for me. Yes, I like the square. Several years ago, at about the same time, a National Geographic writer named Neil Shea and I began using Instagram as a journalistic medium, attracted by the idea that the image could function like what journalists call a nut graf — that it could do a lot of the often-tedious work of “who-what-where-when-why.” It’s been an idea that’s consumed me for several years and led me to a sustained engagement with the work

of a lot of great photographers.

Next spring, I’ll be publishing a book of my Instagram essays called “This Brilliant Darkness.”

In a world of the 24-hour news cycle and “fake news,” is there one news source you recommend?

The short answer is: “outside.” Put a notebook in your pocket and go out and talk to people. But I understand that you’re looking for media. I doubt there ever was “one” news source I’d recommend. It just doesn’t work like that. Like a lot of professors, I read The New York Times and listen to NPR. I’m a critic of both, but there’s no denying that in general, they’re very, very good. For me, WNYC’S On the Media is an indispensable guide to thinking about the news.

I also check in pretty frequently with far-right news sources, such as Breitbart, not for “balance,” a problematic concept, but because they’re there, and I want to know how they see the world. I read the lefty magazines that still do some of the best investigative reporting, such as Mother Jones. Democracy Now! is also good in that regard, especially on stories “mainstream” media overlooks. I depend on Longreads and Longform and Twitter to point me to the best longform journalism, much of it “news” in magazines and journals. I read The Valley News every day. I read The Dartmouth.

The only time I watch cable news is at the gym, and then I usually look away — there’s just almost no reporting. And of course I read books. A lot of books — including fiction — are “news,” too. This year I get to be a nonfiction judge for the National Book Award, which means I’ll receive every new title of any note. Many of them will be speaking to the questions of the day, and the questions of yesterday that we should be considering now and the urgencies of tomorrow. AKA “news.” It’s a broad, broad category.

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

An Unusual Vice: College Decision Videos STORY

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By Novi Zhukovsky

By the tail end of twelfth grade, still hungry for more. Scrolling seniors begin to exhibit the typical through the depths of YouTube, I symptoms of senioritis: slacking began to come across videos that off, showing up late to school, had fewer views and were lesser wearing sweatpants to class and known. These videos typically did realizing it might be time to not provide the same exuberant actually talk to reactions as the that crush they’ve “A girl from my most popular been too scared ones that popped to face.

But high school liveup first did, but behind the fact streamed her they still tended that classes are to have happy early admissions starting to wind endings. And then down and grades decision, but when I watched the most have begun to she she opened horrible video matter less lies the an anxious high harrowing reality the decision, it was school senior could that college a rejection. She find: a college admissions notification video ended the video decisions are in which a student just around the pretty quickly after was denied from corner. For some, that.” every single college thinking about the they applied to. college decision Horrified, notification date I cleared my makes them want to puke. Others, YouTube history, slammed down however, incessantly fantasize my computer screen and swore to about the picture-perfect moment never watch those kinds of videos in which they open the letter and again. get greeted by an immediate, all But it seems that I may be more caps, “CONGRATULATIONS!” sensitive than others. Some enjoy and proceed to be embraced these videos regardless of whether by family and or not there is a friends who pop “After I got rejected positive outcome out of nowhere for the student. and shower Early Decision, I And with college them with pre- started watching admissions bought college decisions being gear and bubbly acceptance videos released for the champagne. And for that school. And Class of 2023 when the day yes, I realize that soon, YouTube comes, some is filling up with brave souls even makes me a sadist.” new reaction take the daring videos.

While step of recording some regard their themselves opening their own obsession with these videos as decisions. an embarrassing vice, others find I have to admit, as a senior in this pastime as a casual means high school, I was fascinated by of entertainment. Regardless college decisions reaction videos. of what you think of them, here With each gleeful and tear- are anonymous confessions from streaked clip, I became more and ’22s who have watched college more excited about the possibility notification videos: of experiencing a similar moment.

I went through the most-viewed 1. “As a high school student, I college acceptance videos online liked watching the videos where in just a few days, but I was students got rejected from most

of the colleges they applied to because it made me feel relieved that if I got rejected too, at least I wouldn’t be the only one.”

2. “One time I watched a college acceptance video where a minority kid from an impoverished neighborhood got accepted into Harvard. It made me cry.”

3. “A girl from my school livestreamed her early admissions decision, but when she opened the decision, it was a rejection. She ended the video pretty quickly

after that.”

gets rejected from every school.”

4. “I recorded a video of myself reading out my college decisions.

I ended up getting accepted to a bunch of schools, which was great, but when I opened rejection letters I didn’t know what to say so I kind of didn’t react at all.

Because of that, my video kind of made me seem like an emotionless psychopath, so I never posted it on YouTube or showed it to anyone.”

6. “I still watch admissions decision videos … and I’m in college.”

5. “Sometimes I liked to watch videos where the person recording

7. “I wanted to film myself reacting to my decision letters, but my mom told me she thought it was a bad idea in case I didn’t get accepted … that hurt.”

8. “After I got rejected early decision, I started watching acceptance videos for that school.

And yes, I realize that makes me a sadist.”

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Privilege & Progress: Admissions Scandal Reactions STORY

By Cristian Cano

Regular decision results for the Dartmouth Class of 2023 come out tomorrow, and they’ll be arriving in the wake of a recently uncovered college admissions scandal that has shaken the nation. The multimillion-dollar scandal includes coaches and administrators at elite schools across the nation. Even celebrities like actresses Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman have been publicly criticized for their involvement.

As colleges and universities,

including fellow Ivy League member Yale University, scramble to review applicants, students and alumni potentially involved in the scandal, conversations about the controversy and its implications on the greater college admissions process are ubiquitous across social media platforms.

Dartmouth has not been named as being involved in the scandal, but that hasn’t kept members of the College community from weighing in on the situation and

expressing their thoughts. One needs only to log into Facebook or Twitter to see waves of students criticizing everything from legacy admissions to affirmative action and unequal access to college prep resources like expensive tutors.

As of this article’s publication, neither President Hanlon nor the Office of Admissions has released a public statement regarding the scandal, though many students are hoping that the College will take tangible steps towards making the

McNutt Hall is home to Dartmouth's admissions office, which stays busy all year, especially in the spring.

college admissions process as fair as possible.

Lauren Jones ’20 found out about the scandal while boarding a plane before spring break. She had heard that one of her favorite YouTubers Olivia Jade was all over the news, which made following each update about the scandal especially compelling.

“I was familiar with a lot of the people involved in the scandal through media and popular culture,” Jones said. “It was weird

ADRIAN RUSSIAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

because I had felt some sort of personal connection just from watching [Olivia Jade’s] YouTube videos.”

For Jones, the scandal itself wasn’t especially surprising, as she had attended a high school in which many students were coming from privileged, affluent backgrounds and could afford resources that were inaccessible to many others. She did struggle, however, with trying to make sense of each student’s culpability in the situation, as subsequent news reports revealed that while some students were fully aware of their parents’ actions, others had been oblivious until news leaked to the press.

According to Jones, there are so many socially-acceptable ways of using one’s wealth to gain an upper hand in college admissions, such as making a large donation to a school, so it’s notable that those involved in the scandal went about it in such a “shady, under-thetable” way. She described acts like making fake athletic profiles and photoshopping photos, all of which really happened, as “cheating the system instead of going around it.”

How do you quantify who deserves a college education?

Jones struggled with answering this question, mentioning that at her high school, some students criticized athletes who supposedly didn’t deserve their spots even though they were working incredibly hard at an activity outside of the classroom. Similarly, she isn’t sure how anyone can say that one student’s activities and commitments are more important than those of another student.

Jones also explained that many students view other students as “less deserving” of an admissions offer based on structural and implicit biases.

“Because of certain racial or certain socioeconomic statuses, people believe that certain people don’t belong in certain institutions,”

MIRR OR //5

Jones said. “Because they haven’t many considerations for admission had the same experiences or don’t to Dartmouth, describing a certain know about the same things you school loyalty with which she was know, they don’t deserve to be in unfamiliar before coming to the an environment in which you’re States. both supposed to benefit from the “I don’t think you can get rid of same things.” legacy students,” Gomez said. “It’s Tamara Gomez ’21 is a student not just money. It’s also the idea who has several identities that that you want your family to have places her in the minority at the same experience, and I think Dartmouth. She self-identifies as that’s kind of cool. I’m not against an international student, having legacy students.” grown up in Mexico before moving In general, Gomez would like to the U.S. partway through high to see colleges and universities use school, and she is also the recipient the money from the scandal to help of both a QuestBridge and a better the experiences of students Jack Kent Cooke Foundation from less affluent backgrounds, scholarship — both of which such as through funding better are given to high-achieving support services and affinity spaces. students from She knows many l o w - i n c o m e "Because of certain students, both backgrounds. at Dartmouth racial or certian G o m e z and at other learned about socioeconomic schools, who have the scandal statuses, people doubted whether while checking or not they the News app believe that certain deserved their on her phone, people don't spot in college, and she said and hopes that belong in certain that she was there’s a silver surprised not institutions." lining to the by the scandal scandal in the itself, but rather form of increased by the fact that -LAUREN JONES '20 awareness and it was finally support for becoming a disadvantaged front-page story. For her, parents’ students. willingness to go to such extreme Personally, Gomez has never felt measures to get their kids into like she didn’t belong at Dartmouth college was always pretty obvious. because of her identities. She is According to Gomez, it’s proud of the path she has taken, probable that “this kind of thing” including moving to a new country happens at Dartmouth, although and pursuing her education in a perhaps not in as extreme a new language, and doesn’t feel the manner. That said, Gomez need to compare herself to others. believes that the Dartmouth “I don’t feel like I’ve ever felt student population is fairly well- uncomfortable or anything like composed, although she would like that,” Gomez said. “Yeah, you see to see more diversity among the people wearing different things — international student population they make fun of the KAF line specifically. She pointed to the being full of Canada Goose jackets removal of need-blind admissions — but I’ve never been made to for international students in 2015 feel uncomfortable or weird or as an obstacle that kept many different in any sort of way.” great international applicants from Jenna Thompson ’20 came attending Dartmouth, though she to Dartmouth from Harvardhopes to see international need- Westlake School, a private school blind admissions return as part in Los Angeles that she described of the College’s Call to Lead as “unbelievably competitive.” campaign for its 250th anniversary. According to Thompson, the Interestingly, Gomez does not school boasts having at least 15 object to legacy status as one of percent of each graduating class

SAMANTHA BURACK/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

being accepted into Ivy League have felt very insecure about her schools every year. accomplishments.

Thompson heard about the “If I were the kid involved in scandal over spring break, and one of these scandals, I would similarly to Jones and Gomez, she feel the opposite of supported,” wasn’t particularly shocked by the Thompson said. “I would feel like news. From her perspective, this my parents didn’t believe in me to kind of behavior has been going carve my own path.” on for years.

At the same time, Thompson “To be totally honest, I wasn’t acknowledged the privilege of that surprised,” Thompson said. the students whose families had “I kind of figured that people been rich enough to take part in knew this had the scandal in the been going on, first place, and not in this exact "If I were the kid unlike Gomez, she way, but to me, involved in one is wholeheartedly this doesn’t seem against legacy so unbelievably of these scandals, admissions and different than I would feel donations being parents donating c o n s i d e r e d the opposite of buildings so that in a student’s their kids get into supported." application in any a school.” capacity.

Thompson Thompson blamed a greater -JENNA THOMPSON '20 was accepted to pressure for Dartmouth as a students to have recruited athlete, attended a school of a certain and while she knows that the prestige for the motivations recruitment process is also not free behind the scandal. She expressed from privilege granting certain sympathy both for the students students unequal advantages, she whose parents were involved believes that at least athleticism and for those who felt like they in and of itself is more accessible hadn’t been accepted because of for students from a wide array of students who cheated their way to backgrounds. Legacy status and an acceptance letter, mentioning donations, however, are inherently that if her parents had been inaccessible to all students except involved in the scandal, she would the wealthiest.

“Unlike with recruited athletes, there wasn’t another facet of [the involved students’] applications that was actually helping them get in,” Thompson said. “[Recruited athletes] are doing really, really hard, work — but money isn’t hard work, especially your parents’ money. I think it’s horrible that… there can just be a library with your name on it and that earns you a spot.”

Another potential change to the admissions process that Thompson strongly supports is the introduction of name-blind admissions.

She explained that admissions officers shouldn’t be able to see the names of applicants or their parents because, unless a student is related to someone famous, those names don’t contribute anything. Names like Laughlin’s are recognizable, which gave her daughters an upper hand in the admissions process, creating yet another unfair situation for the vast majority of applicants.

“I don’t think that names should be included in admissions,” Thompson said. “Unless you have a name that matters, you don’t care. I wouldn’t care if my name was included in admissions because I don’t have a parent who’s affluent or famous enough that it would ring any bells.”

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April Showers Bring ... A Ton of Visitors on Campus STORY

By Yuna Kim

It’s the last week of March, and you know what that means. High school seniors across the globe are eagerly awaiting notifications from their dream schools, which, for many, include an institution or two in the Ivy League.

As teenagers everywhere repeatedly refresh their inboxes this Thursday, they will inevitably receive the fateful message determining their futures for the next few years: the unparalleled excitement of a “Congratulations!” or the let-down of a “We regret to inform you…” paired with an unfulfilling statement about “an increasingly competitive applicant pool.”

As this momentous day is now just days away, and all the craze that follows also looms, spring is undoubtedly a hectic time of year for Dartmouth’s admissions office. With the sudden — albeit expected — influx of students visiting our dear old Dartmouth comes an increase of tours and information sessions run by the Dartmouth admissions team, each packed with prospective freshmen and other high schoolers on spring break.

However, it’s not just McNutt Hall that is bustling during these early spring months. The Dartmouth Dimensions team, a student group that welcomes

the prospective ’23s, is also hard at work preparing a great impression, and an even better surprise, for the visitors.

Donovan Fernandes ’21, who was on the Dimensions team last spring, shared that the members of this year’s group are devoting over five hours a week individually with the goal of wowing prospective ’23s, or as they adoringly call these students, “prospies.”

According to Fernandes, the effectiveness of the Dimensions programs stems from its strong sense of purpose and direction.

“Dimensions is so important because it shows prospective students a

really unique, fun and spirited side of Dartmouth that you can’t ever really experience through general tours or Powerpoint presentations,” Fernandes said.

Tour guides also play a pivotal role in showing the ’23s that Dartmouth could be the perfect home for them over the next four years and can be an incredibly powerful part of a student’s college visit, according to tour guide Rachel Kent ’21.

“When I visited Dartmouth my junior year, I really knew nothing about the school, other than that it was in the Ivy League,” Kent said. “The reason I’m actually here years later is because of my tour guide, whose passion and enthusiasm about her sense of place here at Dartmouth was extremely contagious for me.”

Simon Ellis ’20, also a tour guide, shared what he thought was particularly notable about Dartmouth’s tours as opposed to those of other elite institutions. His observation involves mention of the admissions office’s switch from a fact-based tour to an anecdote-based tour, which means that rather than reciting memorized facts about the school, tour guides are now encouraged to share personal stories they’ve accumulated throughout their own Dartmouth journeys that relate to different spots they visit during the tour.

“The switch from a fact-based tour to the anecdotal style allows us as tour guides to connect with prospective students on a much deeper level,” Ellis said. “I think the admissions office is trying to demonstrate that our tours aren’t just scripted shows like it might be at other colleges, but that it’s just really honest reflections of individuals’ own amazing experiences at Dartmouth.”

In an attempt to sway prospective ’23s toward the College on the Hill, however, it’s important to keep in mind that painting a utopian, idealistic picture of Dartmouth isn’t at all what the admissions office is striving for.

According to Kent, all those who work in McNutt — tour guides especially — are encouraged to provide as honest a portrayal of the school as possible.

“In tour guide training, we do ‘tough questions training’ as preparation for

difficult questions we are often asked on tours that are never easy to answer,” Kent said. “However, it would be disingenuous to simply brush these questions aside, so we as tour guides try our best to paint a complete picture of Dartmouth and address how the school is working hard to address serious issues that many college campuses face.”

In recent years, Dartmouth admissions has seen great success, with undergraduate admissions applications for the Class of 2023 reaching a record number of 23,641, an increase of 7.3 percent over last year’s count.

Furthermore, the acceptance rate for the Class of 2022 was 8.7 percent, the lowest the College has ever seen.

In reflection on his own college application process, Isaac Hanover ’22 shared what compelling features of Dartmouth led him to apply.

“Dartmouth is obviously known for having great professors and stellar academics, but what was a really big draw for me was the strong alumni network they mentioned during the information session,” Hanover said.

“In today’s world, a big part of life is who you know, so I think having such a strong alumni base with people who will always support you in the name of school pride in an incredible asset to have.”

After being accepted during the regular decision admissions cycle, Hanover attended Dimensions, which, according to him, played a decisive role in his committing to Dartmouth.

“Coming to Dimensions, I had some preconceived notion that kids here wouldn’t really care about the incoming freshmen much,” Hanover said. “When my Dimensions host brought me along to meet his friends, though, I was struck by how friendly and welcoming they were to me, which made me feel like Dartmouth could really be my home. I decided to commit the next day.”

As the big decision release day rolls around for 23s and April appears just around the corner, Dartmouth actively prepares for its next wave of visitors, and with them, those individuals who will comprise the next generation of our community.

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TTLG: A Call for Care STORY

By Nicole Knape

Most students would agree that they chose Dartmouth for its tight-knit community and its family feel. I’m not just assuming a general consensus here; I went back and looked up the most common responses to why people selected Dartmouth over schools like Duke or Johns Hopkins on our Class of 2019 Facebook group page. Among campus legend DJ Chris Hogan ’19’s excited posts to assemble a “Mixcloud playlist” for our class (thank you, Chris, for being an example of unparalleled friendliness and enthusiasm), I found a myriad of posts endorsing Dartmouth’s “inviting community where you can feel at home,” as a place where people “care about each other.”

I’ve been reflecting regularly on my communities at Dartmouth during this year of absolute uncertainty and, at ti mes, great disappointment. As the number of medical school interviews I’ve had is far smaller than the ceaseless number of emails flooding my inbox stating schools’ regret in not including me in their Class of 2023, I first wonder: Why the heck did no one warn me about how endless and discouraging the application process can be? For all you Econ gods and goddesses, primary applications are submitted in June, and after additional essays tailored to each of the 15 to 20 schools and interviews in the fall and winter, decisions may not be sent to applicants until March or April.

I thought sitting through courses like organic chemistry, in which midterm medians wavered around a 49 percent, was torture enough, and that tackling the MCAT would be the toughest uphill battle. But the application year monster has made attempts to ravage, devour and spit back up my self-confidence in a round, soggy ball.

The second question I contemplate is how I would have made it through these last 10 months without my Dartmouth

communities: my friends taking me to dinner on bluesy nights, my undergraduate advisor staff team encouraging me every Thursday night in a stuffy Topliff basement lounge, my Student Assembly co-leaders distracting me with unending checklists accompanied by hearty laughs and futile attempts to teach me step.

My spirits remain high because of texts filled with heart emojis and thousands of exclamation points and hand-written notes that are full of gratitude for the friendships built over the sweaty afternoons of Sophomore Summer or the unpredictable, adventurous (and therefore probably sweaty as well) nights of Pre-Orientation. It is the smiles, hugs, laughs — my friendships — that make me the positive person I am today, energetic about whatever opportunities the future may hold.

Recognizing my friends’ commitments to my wellbeing, I dedicated a couple hours each afternoon this past winter term to molding mugs in the ceramics studio. Carving Baker Tower, brains, roosters and love letters into leathery clay, adorning each mug with a handle to fit a friend’s personality, has allowed me to spend my energies thinking about how to best represent others, which takes my mind off of my own worries. Celebrating friends by handing them a product made from love and pruney fingers quite literally re-energized me, as my dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin saturated my brain during the acts of gift-giving.

If caring for our classmates provides a natural high, why do we students at Dartmouth so often catch ourselves in a rut of focusing internally on our own negative stressors? In all fairness, college is a time to be selfish — a time to compile a portfolio of experiences that will secure one’s childhood dream job among other penguinsuited coworkers. However, it is also meant to be a time of growth

COURTESY OF NICOLE KNAPE

and maturation — a time to practice common courtesies, to stimulate community-building and camaraderie, to raise up friends and highlight their greatest qualities.

In the aftermath of campus negativity, exemplified by distasteful messages of hatred and chilling threats that we on Student Assembly have done our best to respond to as students reach out for additional support, I feel compelled to motivate students to reevaluate how they are fueling campus climate. Are you a spark, ready to kindle your friends’ days? Are you more likely to wave at someone you met once during Orientation, or do you swiftly duck your head at most oncoming walkers?

I’ve compiled a list of tangible ways in which we can all make this campus a little brighter: 1. Open doors for each other.

2. Help pick up someone’s spilled pens, pencils and sticks of peppermint gum.

3. Tell a student athlete that you’re in awe of how they handle two-a-days, lift and away games or

races among the other roles they play on campus.

4. Acknowledge your classmates who work the 7:30 a.m. or 1 a.m. Novak Café shifts and, by some will of sheer determination, still manage to maintain their schoolwork.

5. Become a undergraduate advisor who makes Dartmouth just a little bit safer by bringing together diverse groups of people in their first year of college to create a community, a safe place and a home. Forge a place where individuals can feel comfortable to air their discomforts during a year of incredible transition.

6. Join leadership positions in the Greek System — not for the fleeting clout or social status — but rather to protect the vulnerable individuals in your spaces.

7. Run for a position on Student Assembly to pour your heart and soul into making lasting change for Dartmouth that might just make a small difference for marginalized communities or undergraduates in general.

One last piece of advice: DON’T write racial slurs on people’s dorm doors or draft threatening emails making a peer feel unsafe in her own space.

But don’t take my word for it — try the exercise for yourself: write a handwritten note telling someone how much they mean to you and see if it turns your day around, allowing you to forget about whatever is going on at home or in your biochemistry class.

Wouldn’t you rather the “Dartmouth family” be a reality, an institution in which students are recognized nation-wide for developing supportive programs instead of for a reputation muddied by never-ending reports of sexual assault and racial bias?

This rural New Hampshire campus is frigid enough to begin with: be that supplemental dose of vitamin D in someone’s cloudy day. Please, let’s be kind to each other, Dartmouth.

Knape is the vice president of the Student Assembly.

The Start of Something New 8// MIRR OR

PHOTO

By Divya Kopalle and Michael Lin