VOL. CLXXVI NO. 17
SUNNY HIGH 51 LOW 29
OPINION
CHIN: MUSEEN-SCENE PAGE 4
SAKLAD: NO PLACE UNLIKE HOME PAGE 4
ARTS
ARTIST-INRESIDENCE EXHIBITS WORK THAT CHALLENGES AND INSPIRES PAGE 7
REVIEW: ‘DUMBO’ IS AN AIMLESS LIVE-ACTION REMAKE OF A CLASSIC PAGE 8
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TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
SA candidates debate, Elizabeth Warren campaigns in election ends tonight Hanover, decries ‘corruption’ B y CASSANDRA THOMAS The Dartmouth Staff
Last night, the Student Assembly presidential and vice presidential debate was attended by over 50 students in Dartmouth Hall. The debate included three presidential candidates: Luke Cuomo ’20, Tim Holman ’20 and Sydney Johnson ’20, and vicepresidential candidate Ariela Kovary ’20, who is running on the same ticket as Cuomo. The possibility of a student delegate on the Board of
Trustees, sexual misconduct policy, inclusivity on campus and rules surrounding Greek spaces were central issues. After the candidates presented their qualifications, moderator and editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Debora Hyemin Han ’20 asked a question about the Board of Trustees that revealed a major divergence in opinion between the three candidates. Every candidate acknowledged that the Board of Trustees
SEE DEBATE PAGE 2
Students say C3I policy draft rollout offered few feedback opportunities B y ANNE GEORGE
The Dartmouth Staff
Dartmouth’s Office of General Counsel recently released a draft of a new Unified Sexual Misconduct Policy and Procedures in order to get feedback about the proposed policies. However, members of the student body have expressed concerns that students have not adequately been able to offer feedback on the draft, which was written as part of the College’s new Campus Climate and
Culture Initiative. This criticism comes after College President Phil Hanlon delivered a keynote speech at a summit on sexual assault and sexual harassment in higher education at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD earlier this month. College spokesperson Diana Lawrence said in an email statement that the Presidential Steering Committee on Sexual Misconduct advised the Office of the General Counsel on SEE POLICY PAGE 5
MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Recent polling shows Warren receiving single-digit support for the 2020 New Hampshire primary.
B y KYLE MULLINS AND CASSANDRA THOMAS The Dartmouth Staff
Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren drew a crowd of over four hundred students and local residents for a campaign event at the Hanover Inn on Saturday. In a speech and subsequent questionand-answer session, Warren denounced what she called “corruption” in the economy and Washington, D.C. The visit to Hanover comes as Warren battles to break out of a historically large field of 18 major Democratic candidates looking to take on President Donald Trump in
2020. Recent public polling shows that Warren’s support in New Hampshire, currently in the high single digits, puts her in fourth place in the crucial first-in-the-nation primary. A recent Saint Anselm College poll of New Hampshire voters found that Warren trails former vice president Joe Biden — who has not officially declared a presidential bid — by over a dozen points and lags behind Ver mont senator Bernie Sanders, while earning similar levels of support as South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg and California senator Kamala Harris. To begin the event, Warren gave a synopsis of her life story, emphasizing her Oklahoman
roots as the fourth child of parents who held low-wage jobs. She said that when her family was on the verge of bankruptcy, her mother found a minimum wage job that kept their family afloat. The senator asserted that, in contrast to her upbringing, “today, a full-time minimum wage job in America will not keep a momma and a baby out of poverty.” “That is wrong and that is why I’m in this fight,” Warren said. “Why is it that people who work every bit as hard as my mother worked a generation ago now find the path rockier and steeper?” For people of color, she added, SEE WARREN PAGE 3
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TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Dartmouth hosts TEDx event B y GRAYCE GIBBS
The Dartmouth Staff
The director of philanthropy for Beyoncé’s entertainment company, a neurosurgery professor at Stanford University, the founder of College Pulse and 11 others spoke at the TEDxDartmouth conference in Spaulding Auditorium this past Saturday. Around 650 students, faculty and community members gathered for the event. TED is a nonprofit that seeks to spread through talks given in under 18 minutes. The “x” denotes an independently organized event. According to TEDxDartmouth president and founder Arvind Suresh ’19, the entire event cost over $23,000. The event’s sponsors included the College — in honor of its 250th anniversary — the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning and the Rassias Center, as well as all but one of the College’s residential housing communities. The speakers were selected from over 250 initial applications, according to Suresh. The TEDxDartmouth team, which includes Suresh, Heather Flokos ’19, Alice Hsu ’19, Josephine Kalshoven ’19, Brenda Miao ’19 and over 20 others, has been planning the conference since last spring. Hsu said that one of the first priorities in the planning process was coming up with the theme. “Last year, our theme was paradigm shifts, which was really focused on the changes that were happening in society and how we saw that projecting into the future,” Hsu said. “We really wanted to focus more this year on the interconnectedness of societies and communities that support these changes.” The conference’s theme was “Living Bridges: Connectivity and Community.” The master of ceremonies for the event, physics and astronomy professor Marcelo Gleiser, began the conference by introducing the speakers as a group of “bridge-makers” who “connect different worlds and different experiences.” The first speaker, philanthropist
and entrepreneur Ivy McGregor, focused on the power each person has as an individual to spark change. She challenged the audience to “return to your young fearless selves where you believed that anything was possible.” Suresh said that McGregor was chosen to speak first because the content of her talk fit well with the theme and set the stage for the other speakers. McGregor’s talk was followed by Staci Mannella ’18, a Paralympian who suffers from congenital vision impairment and is legally blind. A result of her lawsuit against Dartmouth for a lack of adequate accessibility services, Mannella helped create institutional change through the creation of a new protocol for students with disabilities. Rather than spending her allotted 18 minutes talking, Tyné Angela Freeman ’17 MALS ’19 sang three pieces from her album “Bridges,” a cross-cultural and multilingual collection of songs. Freeman’s performance was followed by a talk given by English and women’s, gender and sexuality studies professor Ivy Schweitzer, women’s, gender and sexuality studies professor Pati Hernandez and former inmate Charlotte Rankin, who discussed the stigma around “the prison industrial complex.” The final two talks of the morning session were given by director of sustainability Rosi Kerr ’97 and College Pulse founder Terren Klein ’17. During the hour-long lunch break, TEDxDartmouth partnered with the Hood Museum of Art to create a self-guided activity for participants. According to Hsu, this activity was one way in which the organizers attempted to make the conference interactive. The conference reconvened in Spaulding after the lunch break for Geisel School of Medicine professor and associate dean for global health Lisa Adams MED ’90’s talk on the need to decolonize the global health stage and move towards more equitable partnerships. Following Adams’ talk, English professor Donald Pease discussed Dartmouth’s history, beginning with Dartmouth College v. Woodward, the
CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
landmark 1819 Supreme Court case that preserved Dartmouth’s status as a private college. In another unconventional presentation, Christiana Rose MA ’20 shared an interdisciplinary dance and acrobatic routine. Stanford neurosurgery professor Odette Harris ’91 reflected on a talk given by astronaut Mae Jemison that she attended during her senior year of college, as well as her own work as a doctor, professor and leader. “I was really looking forward to hearing Odette Harris’s talk, and I loved her presentation,” Woodstock Union High School senior Momo Biele said. “I’m hoping to go into neuroscience, so I found her really inspiring.” Jake Epstein ’21, a member of the Magnuson Center’s Student Leadership Board, was the only undergraduate speaker.Hespokeaboutthefundamentals of blockchain and its potential to create fairer and more equitable data access. The last talk belonged to Pete McBride ’93, who discussed his time in Grand Canyon National Park, during which he spent over a year documenting the park and highlighting the challenges it faces as outside developers push for a mega resort and tramway into the canyon. The conference was the second iteration of what Hsu and Suresh hope will become a long-standing tradition. Prior to 2018, Dartmouth last held a TEDx conference in 2011. Due to the inexperience of new leaders and the lack of returning membership, the conference did not continue, according to Hsu. “It’s kind of the perennial Dartmouth problem because of the way the D-Plan works and the weird way that classes interact [with one another],” Hsu said. “If you don’t build up a strong succeeding class it dies off. I’ve seen it happen with many organizations. Part of being an organizer is finding great underclassmen to help us because we don’t want this to be the last time.” Rachel Quist ’22, who was on this year’s TEDx team, said she hopes to stay involved and continue making future conferences a success. “I hope that both the community members and the Dartmouth students felt like TEDx was something they would definitely want to come back to again, and that it was definitely worth their time,” she said.
Candidates disagree over student Board member FROM DEBATE PAGE 1
possessed the “keys of power” — to use Holman’s phrase — in terms of tuition, leadership and policy. Cuomo maintained that pressuring the administration to include a student on the Board of Trustees would be a fruitless endeavor. He pointed out that the Board of Trustees has a tendency to choose appointed members over elected ones, suggesting that the body was fairly conservative and impenetrable. Speaking almost directly to Holman, Cuomo said “it is imperative that we do not let ourselves be blinded by statements that seem bold, but are impossible. Student Assembly has a small budget and a voice. Ultimately, we do not make the decisions on this campus.” To fortify their argument, Kovary pointed out that her and Cuomo preferred a “baby steps” approach toward an open line of communication between the Student Assembly and Board of Trustees. Holman vehemently disagreed and began to shake his head during Cuomo’s answer. Holman asserted that other colleges, such as Cornell University, have a student on their Board of Trustees and that Dartmouth should follow suit. He claimed that besides an ’05, the youngest person on the Board of Trustees is a ’92. He criticized this “generational divide,” saying that it would prevent the Board from effectively assessing student needs. The website of the Board of Trustees does not list a member of the Class of ’92 and lists as members Erica Shultz ’95 and Nathaniel Fick ’99. “There’s no student voice [in the Board of Trustees] right now,” Holman said. “In my administration, one of the first things I’d do is [ask] how we can bridge that gap.” Johnson also said that she preferred a more “aggressive” approach, suggesting that the Student Assembly should “up the ante” in pushing for a student representative on the Board. Beyond this initial point of
contention, the candidates proved to have many similar stances over the course of the debate. On the issue of mental health, all four candidates agreed that there is dearth of psychiatrists and counselors on campus, which poses a serious problem for students facing mental health issues. The candidates all expressed approval of reforming the school’s “reactive” sexual misconduct policy and expediting the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative, which would unify sexual misconduct policy for students, faculty and staff. Cuomo separated himself from other candidates by advocating for a “zero-tolerance” sexual assault policy for students affiliated with Greek life. He asserted that any student found guilty of sexual assault should be banned from their house in order to create a safer space for students looking to “let loose.” Johnson’s distinguishing policy lied in her commitment to making inclusive spaces on campus for people of color. She said that the College should make a greater effort to hire faculty members of color and that she would like to reform the process of reporting bias to make it more accessible. Lola Laguda ’22 attended the debate without knowing about the candidates’ background or policies beforehand. She says that the debate tuned her onto issues that she didn’t necessarily know were there to begin with. “I heard about some of the issues on campus that I didn’t quite realize [were present],” Laguda said. “For example, students of color feeling like they don’t have a space, or administrations not pushing to create social spaces for them.” Laguda said she was struck by Holman’s “personable” character, especially the tactic he used in which he referred to crowd members by their first name. “Personally, I could tell that Tim Holman seemed to have a lot of fans SEE DEBATE PAGE 5
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Warren pledges to enact a wealth tax, increase education spending Markey (D-MA). Throughout her speech, the that path is even more difficult. senator emphasized her belief that Warren’s speech included a the cost of childcare “sidelines” many variety of attacks on individuals parents, and subsidizing “pre-K and and organizations that she said pre-pre-K” would strengthen the perpetuated a system in which “the middle class by allowing parents to government works great for those ascend professionally. with money and connections, not Warren closed out the policy great for everyone else.” portion of her speech by outlining the “That’s corruption,” Warren “political change” she hopes to enact said, assailing Wall Street, the Koch as president. According to Warren, brothers, oil and pharmaceutical this would include protecting corporations, major tech monopolies the constitutional right to vote, and lobbyists. repealing voter suppression laws The senator framed most major and overturning the controversial agenda items — climate change, Citizens United v. FEC Supreme economic inequality, student loans, Court decision. healthcare — through the idea that References to President Trump “corruption” is at the core of the were absent from Warren’s speech. United States’ Instead, she spoke problems. She of systematic simplified her “What [Warren] wants problems in the platform to three to do, what she has government prongs: attacking a n d e c o n o my c o r r u p t i o n done and what she’s that obstruct “ h e a d - o n , ” struggled through — “every change a d d r e s s i n g it’s all very impressive. that would help economic [young people].” inequality and She gets it.” Even her call for significantly all individuals ch a n g i n g t h e running for A m e r i c a n -MARIA MELENDY, WEST federal office to political system. LEBANON RESIDENT release their tax Warren said returns online — she plans to an indirect jab at “attack corruption” by putting the President, who has consistently an end to lobbying, blocking “the refused to do so — was contained revolving door between Washington within her promotion of her own and Wall Street,” enforcing a more anti-corruption legislation. stringent code of ethics on the Immigration policy, currently a Supreme Court and requiring the highly contentious issue in the federal tax returns of all elected officials. government, was also absent from On economic inequality, the Warren’s speech. senator pledged to give more power Though Warren must first win to unions and their members and the Democratic party’s nomination, enact a “wealth tax” to be levied on for some attendees, the general household assets over $50 million. election was at the forefront of their The new revenue would be used to minds. New Hampshire state senator fund universal childcare and reduce Martha Hennessey (D-Hanover), student loan debt with “two trillion who spoke before Warren, said left over,” according to Warren. that “everyone in this room is now She added that the leftover revenue required to vote in the next election” could be spent on other agenda and that it was crucial that everyone items, including a “down payment” in the room “support whoever it is on a Green New Deal, referencing the Democratic nominee is.” the divisive proposal put forth by “We all know how important Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio- that is going to be in this election,” Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Ed Hennessey said. “We have learned FROM WARREN PAGE 1
our lesson, I hope.” Michael Gem, a New Hampshire native who lives in Los Angeles and is an undecided voter, echoed Hennessey’s general sentiments, saying that he would vote for anybody who can beat President Trump in 2020. On Warren, he said that while he is a “big fan of her message,” he is “not sure if she can win.” Jai Smith ’22, who attended the event, praised Warren’s grasp of policy details, saying that she answered questions “very directly, and with concrete things that she can do.” He added that Warren has been his favorite of the candidates he has seen so far.
Kylie Romeros ’22 said that she appreciated Warren’s emphasis on childcare. “That’s a really important thing that I hadn’t heard her talk about as much before the event,” Romeros said. West Lebanon resident Maria Melendy expressed her admiration for the way Warren presented her arguments. “Off the cuff, she has a memory like a steel trap,” Melendy said. “Her history — she knows what she wants to say, she doesn’t have to look at notes. What she wants to do, what she has done and what she’s struggled through — it’s all very impressive. She gets it.”
With the New Hampshire primary less than a year away, 2020 Democratic candidates are beginning to come in force to Dartmouth. Washington governor Jay Inslee and New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand ’88 recently visited campus, and Harris will be hosting a town hall event in Alumni Hall on April 23. Their visits are occurring on friendly territory — in recent elections, Hanover has proven to be a reliably Democratic town in a purple state. In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton received 84.9 percent of the vote in Hanover — her largest percentage of any town in New Hampshire.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
STAFF COLUMNIST CLARA CHIN ’19
STAFF COLUMNIST AVERY SAKLAD ’21
Muse-en-scene: How to Have a Body
No Place Unlike Home
Body positivity is about surviving trauma, not just self-image.
The body is where things happen, and the body makes things happen. But in light of Sexual Awareness Month, I am thinking about how a body is also a burden. Your body is your heaviest baggage, bearing the scars of physical strain or perhaps even trauma — and in spite of that trauma, the body is daring to feel longing and lust. Everyone has a theory of their body whether or not this theorization is conscious. It comes from watching cinema, scrolling through social media feeds and simply existing. All of these activities happen in spite of and in relation to the emotional history of one’s body. Survivors of sexual assault often struggle with body image and the feeling of being objectified. But the sexualization of the female body, along with the reality that women are disproportionally affected by sexual assault, means that simply existing in a female or femme body is difficult even for those who have not faced sexual assault. So how does one live in a marginalized body with agency and without fear? “Body positivity” is a buzzword that emerged with the good intention of answering this question, but now it often gets co-opted by those who possess conventionally accepted beauty. Originally a term meant for larger women and women of color to embrace their appearances, it has since become an overused description for women posing in bikinis on Instagram and other social media platforms. While wearing what you want is a liberating quality, expressions of body positivity must be critical and not simplistic in order to be effective. Body positivity should focus not only on finding one’s physical form beautiful no matter its shape but also on recognizing its capability to express and relieve emotion. Some body positive activists have effected small changes in the aesthetic lives of marginalized bodies. Ashleigh Nicole Tribble, an activist for larger-
bodied women of color on Instagram, spoke out against Rhianna’s Savage X Fenty Valentine’s Day collection. She argued that the small to extra-large sizes had a more aesthetically appealing design than the full-coverage design of the collection’s 1X-3X sizes, and that larger women should also be able to bare more skin. Calling out fatphobia within the fashion industry has encouraged women to sit comfortably in their sexuality online, helping to remove the stigma from fat, stretch marks and scars. Magazines like Salty often feature non-normative bodies posing in traditional fashion shoot poses with bright lighting and fun pops of color. Body positivity calls for a more abstract way of thinking about the body. Abstractions of the body in cinema are good examples of a more critical take on body positivity. In Claire Denis’s most recent film, “High Life,” the body is centered in its abject form. The camera shows a woman’s horrified face as she lactates and realizes she is pregnant and, more abstractly, a woman’s head bursting as she approaches a black hole. These abstract images allow us to face the reality of trauma and fraught relationships with the body rather than gloss over the emotion of our bodies with brightly colored magazine pictures. In order to truly engage in body positivity, the term must not focus on literal aesthetics. Body positivity should not be reserved for the cover of fashion magazines. In the same way that body positivity has afforded women of color, transgendered people and other marginalized bodies a feeling of pride, body positivity can help people cope with more figurative feelings of “ugliness.” Body positivity should be more than an Instagram hashtag. It should be a way to critique the world around you and situate it within your own life.
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One woman’s experiences at Dartmouth and abroad. Hovering over our packs slung on the bus station bench, I count the cars as they pass by and wait for one of them to slow down. My traveling companion, Noah, and I rifle for snacks in my 45-liter Osprey, which holds all of my possessions for the next two months. These are the first stages of our survival plan. If our host doesn’t show, we will camp out at the bus stop until a car heading in the right direction comes by the next morning and then we’ll catch a train to a major city. Fifteen minutes pass, then 20. It started with a website called WorkAway, a forum where one can get in touch with thousands of hosts around the world who offer room and board in exchange for work. After countless messages sent to potential hosts, we finally receive an acceptance from Simone and Clinton Davies, the owners of a quaint bed and breakfast and bar in Touzac, France about five hours southeast of Paris. “Get in, I’ll help you with your stuff,” calls a British voice from the passenger-side window of a car parked along the road. Simone at last. She drives us to our lodgings for the next two weeks and along the way asks the usual questions — “Where are you from?” “What do you study?” “How did you get here?” I neglected to tell her that I wanted an escape — an escape from seeing the images on my computer screen and fake smiles at Dartmouth. I wanted an escape for another reason too: Dartmouth is not a safe place for women. There is an unspoken work-hard, playhard mentality on campus. Students spend their weeknights whiling away in the library and they party extra hard on the weekends. This, paired with the isolation of Dartmouth’s campus, makes Greek life — and in particular, fraternity parties — an attractive option for many students’ weekend plans. As at most colleges with Greek life, fraternities dominate sororities in the social scene. As such, many students spend their weekends drinking to excess in fraternity basements. This brings me to the first reality I wanted to escape: lots of drunk young men and women in spaces in which people often look for a hookup. The second reality I wanted to escape comes from the alcohol and class hierarchy, which creates a toxic stew of hypermasculinity within fraternities. These men often feel entitled to women, ignorant of the harms they inflict by gawking, touching and otherwise assaulting them. While Dartmouth may have some programs such as the campus
counseling center and WISE that offer support to victims, most victims’ experiences remain unheard by the college. In the barest terms, Dartmouth is not an institution that supports women. I am tired of that, too. So, I leapt into a world where I hoped to find something different from what I had known before. At the end of my first week, a group of Brits and Scots celebrate a birthday at the Davies’ club. All night, I carry courses to the dining room in slow procession. Simone and Clinton gather me and Noah to tell us that we’ve done a “delightful job.” As the guests begin to filter out, they invite us for a drink. “I bet half the men in here went home and f—ed their wives after looking at you,” Clinton says in front of six other people, while winking at another man. I don’t know where to look, how to shape my face. He echoes the words girls hear from puberty and sometimes much younger. These kinds of words trick us into dressing up and make us regret it when we do. Frat boys whisper them into our ears in basements where they cannot even see our faces. I tried to escape these words by leaving Dartmouth, and I realize now they will follow me wherever I go. Clinton overstepped himself, but he also taught me that I will face harassment everywhere, not just at Dartmouth. I had similar experiences to mine in Touzac throughout my time traveling Europe. Men offered me little gifts or called me beautiful and became angry when I turned them away. It feels so wrong to feel so lucky nothing worse happened to me. Countless women are assaulted or even killed while traveling abroad. People, mainly men, disrespect and harm women by taking their bodies for granted. But it does not have to be that way, and it should not be. In order for this to change, we will need, first and foremost, an upwelling of empathy for other humans. That means considering the way our words and our actions affect others. We cannot continue to tolerate men who disrespect women, who endanger our sense of safety and sometimes violate our bodies. The first step to making the world a place where women can feel equal and safe is acknowledging harmful language and actions as well as starting conversations about difficult topics like sexual harassment and assault. We cannot continue to skirt this topic. The movement will come slow and sometimes not at all, but we must move towards somewhere new.
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Draft policy lets complainants and Debate saw agreements, respondents submit written statements personality differences FROM POLICY PAGE 1
the drafting process by studying the work of other colleges, reviewing best practices and holding six individual sessions to solicit direct input from community members. She explained that the primary change in the proposed sexual misconduct policy is that it is a unified policy that covers faculty, staff and students, with specific resolution processes based on the affiliation of the accused — as opposed to the multiple sexual assault policies that have existed in the past. With the release of the draft, an online feedback page was created so that community members could read the policies and procedures and share their feedback anonymously until April 9 — though the deadline has since been extended. According to a statement by Hanlon that was published on the website, the feedback system was established in an effort to make the process more inclusive. Paulina Calcaterra ’19, the 201819 executive chair of the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault, said that she believes the release of the draft and the feedback process were not adequately publicized. Information regarding the new policies and procedures was sent to students at the beginning of spring term via an email from interim dean of the College Kathryn Lively, but Calcaterra said that the email included other unrelated information which “cluttered” the message about the draft and call for feedback. Calcaterra said she believes that many emails from the College are rarely read by students, and that in the past, the College has understood this and has worked with various student organizations to spread relevant information. She cited the changes to the Homecoming bonfire and surrounding programming as an example. “There were ways the College could have worked harder to ensure that students knew that a draft of the policies [was] available to be reviewed,” she said. Both Emma Guo ’20 and Jeffrey Cho ’22 said they were unaware that
a draft of the sexual misconduct policy had been released and would have sent in their thoughts if they had known. “I think that, given such liberty, we should take advantage [by] voicing our opinions,” Cho said. AccordingtoCalcaterra,themembers of SPCSA did not realize that they were going to be one of the few student groups directly contacted by the College for their input, and therefore did not understand how important it was that they review the policies. Additionally, she said this led to some members not attending the meeting and few reading through the entire document. She also said that the length and language of the draft make it difficult for students to get involved in the process. Because of this, SPCSA has requested that the College write an executive summary of the policies. Calcaterra said she is concerned about the hearing process outlined in the draft and feels as though Dartmouth may prematurely be complying with national Title IX changes proposed by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who called for colleges to move away from the evidence standard of “more likely than not” and to have some level of cross examination added to the investigation processes. Lawrence wrote that if the U.S. Education Department Title IX regulations are adopted, the College will review them and “consider their options.” According to Section 2a of the “Process for Resolving Reports Against Students,” both the complainants and respondents may submit a written statement to the hearing panel, which will be shared with the other party. A final investigative report will also be submitted to the hearing panel. Both parties have the opportunity to also meet with the panel if either party wishes, and neither party is required to participate in the hearing. The format of the hearing and deliberation is at the discretion of the panel. “[SPCSA] was reassured that the hearing had more to do with oversight of the independent investigator and to give opportunities to both parties to air their questions and concerns,” Calcaterra said. “We are still concerned about the
opportunity the hearing gives each party to ask each other questions. We think those questions would be hostile, judgmental or retraumatizing.” The current draft allows both parties to proffer questions for the hearing panel to ask; however, the panel has the discretion about which, if any, of the proffered questions it wants to ask. Lawrence added that the proposed hearing would only occur in limited situations, and a victim of sexual misconduct would never be required to confront or respond directly to the alleged perpetrator. “Our goal, as always, will be to promote a safe community that responds to situations with fairness and equity for all involved,” she wrote. However, following a meeting with some of the writers of the draft, Calcaterra said that the proposed live hearing might be excluded from the final policy. Calcaterra said that SPCSA also asked the College to work with Judicial Affairs to reach out to survivors and responding parties that are still on campus, as well as faculty who have worked with sexual misconduct cases in the past, to make them aware that the policy is being updated “because they are equipped to give feedback, have read this sort of language before, and have lived it.” She added that the policy contributors had responded to SPCSA’s request and said they would attempt to work with Judicial Affairs. Additionally, Calcaterra said that although they have the opportunity to respond through the feedback form, their experiences are being lost among the comments of “non-experts.” “My main concern is whether this protocol is more harmful to survivors than the old protocol,” she said. Lawrence emphasized that the College has the community’s interests in mind. “Dartmouth is committed to protecting the safety and well-being of everyone on our campus and we take the issue of sexual misconduct seriously,” she wrote. Guo is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
FROM DEBATE PAGE 2
in the audience and I think that may have impacted how I saw the debate because there was a huge applause every time he said something,” Laguda said. Rohan Chakravarty ’21 served as Cuomo and Kovary’s campaign manager, and said he left the debate feeling positively about the discourse that took place and his ticket’s performance. “It was a very issue orientedcampaign,” Chakravarty said. “I feel confident in my candidates. For
somebody who doesn’t know any of the candidates, I feel like you would get a sense of each candidate’s governing styles and how they would move forward in their roles.” Current president Monik Walters ’19 and vice president Nicole Knape ’19 were also present at the debate, and were frequently mentioned by the candidates. Walters said that she believes each candidate has the capability to become president. She said that although Johnson did not have the same Student Assembly experience as her competitors, she was still a qualified individual to run.
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DARTMOUTHEVENTS
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
19S SENTIMENTS
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019
CECILIA MORIN ’21
TODAY
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Seminar: “Building an open source Python Ecosystem for Plasma Physics,” sponsored by the Department of Physics, Wilder Hall, Room 115.
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Lecture: “Korean Health Care System: Achievements and Challenges,” sponsored by the Nathan Smith Society, Carpenter Hall, Room 013.
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Reading: “Reading with author Namwali Serpell,” sponsored by the Department of English and the Society of Fellows, Sanborn Library, Sanborn House.
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Screening: “Samba Un Nombre Borrado, (“A Name Erased”),” Haldeman Hall, Room 41.
TOMORROW 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Pets: “Visit from Winston, VT Therapy Dog,” sponsored by the Student Wellness Center, House Center B.
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Lecture: “Dorsett Fellowship Lecture,” by Margaret Atwood, sponsored by the Ethics Institute, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Spaulding Auditorium.
7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Film: “The Matrix,” sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Black Family Visual Arts Center, Loew Auditorium.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
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Review: ‘Shazam!’ is refreshing, ridiculous and remarkably fun B y James Cronin The Dartmouth
It’s midterms week, I’m currently in season for my sport and I don’t have enough pairs of shorts for the good weather that’s finally arrived. Needless to say, I am stressed. To remedy this, I decided to do what any good student does and procrastinate by going to see a movie to take my mind off my work for a few hours. Fortunately for me, the Nugget was screening “Shazam!,” which proved to be the perfect two-hour distraction I was looking for. “Shazam!” tells the tale of a 14-year-old boy named Billy Batson, played by Asher Angel, who is imbued by a wizard with the power to turn into an adult superhero named Shazam, played by Zachary Levi. With the help of his foster brother Freeman, played by Jack Dylan Grazer, Billy must defeat the evil Doctor Sivana, played by career baddy Mark Strong. The film’s plot revolves around Billy’s search for his mother, adjustment to life in a new foster home, grappling
with his newfound power and realization of what it means to be both a superhero and part of a family. If the concept of a high school freshman being given super powers that turn him into a chiseled superhero sounds ridiculous to you, then congratulations, you’re right. Shazam is an inherently ridiculous and campy character, but that’s not a bad thing at all. If the movie had played it straight the whole time and tried to make the story gritty and serious like other DC Comics movies, then it most definitely would have been a bad thing. However, because they chose to go with a light-hearted, self-aware and comedic approach to the character that highlights the zaniness of the whole thing, film director David F. Sandberg was able to turn this aspect of the character into one of the movie’s biggest strengths. Think “Big,” but with superpowers — that’s basically what “Shazam” is, and it’s just as good as it sounds. Depending on the person, that may sound either very good or very bad. This movie is for people who
are heading to the theater to laugh a little and be entertained. If you’re a bit more highbrow and not as easily entertained by things as I am, then this may not be the movie for you. But what really makes this movie entertaining isn’t the comedy or the wholesome message it delivers — it’s the passion of everyone involved in the film that energizes the character relationships and makes the familiar message compelling. This is most evident in the performances. Levi kills it as Shazam and totally sells you on the fact that he’s really just a teenager who’s absolutely ecstatic that he now can “leap tall buildings in a single jump” and buy beer. All of the child actors in the movie do a decent enough job when they’re on their own, but it’s when they’re together that they really start to shine. Billy has a great rapport with his foster brother Freddy, and the whole foster family has a really believable and heartwarming dynamic. Strong does what he can as the bad guy, but, through no fault of his own, he’s pretty weak. Whereas in other
superhero movies, a bad villain can ruin the whole thing, in “Shazam!” that’s not the case because the focus isn’t on the ye olde fight between good and evil, it’s on the characters — how they grow and how they become closer to one another. It sounds just as clean as it is. This movie is good, wholesome family-friendly fun — even more so than most superhero movies. After years of putting out bland, test tube-made, mediocre movies dripping with a corporate glaze, it looks like the folks at Warner Bros. Entertainment have started to realize that they have more success with their films when they trust their directors and intervene as little as possible in the creative process. “Suicide Squad,” “Justice League” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” are all testaments to the studio’s tendency to choke the life out of what should be complete slam-dunks. They do this by refusing to do anything too interesting with their movies for fear of alienating some portion of the ultra-wide demographic they’re
aiming for. Recently, Warner Bros. has relaxed the reigns on its artists and the results have been positive. “Aquaman” was a dumb but still a incredibly fun and visually stunning film. By trusting James Wan, — a director who had primarily made horror films prior to “Aquaman” — to do what he wanted with the film, DC was finally able to make a creative and entertaining movie. “Shazam!” is equally dumb but also incredibly fun, heartwarming and undeniably entertaining. Both movies have done great with audiences and have killed it at the box office, which fortunately means we’ll probably get a lot more films like it. The new direction of DC movies seems to ditch the forced grittiness of previous films and instead embrace the campy, oftentimes ridiculous nature of some of its superheroes. Personally, it’s a welcome change, and I hope DC continues this trend going forward. I had a great time with “Shazam!” and I can easily recommend it to anyone else looking to blow off some steam this week.
Artist-in-residence exhibits work that challenges and inspires B y LucY turnipseed The Dartmouth Staff
Spring 2019 artist-in-residence Daniel Kojo Schrade, a professor of art at Hampshire College who has exhibited all over the globe, is offering Dartmouth students, faculty, staff and community members an extremely fresh show in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery this term. Schrade painted 80 percent of the works on display for his newest series, “:listenings.” “I’m really happy to take advantage of the amazing studio space and to have a show here in this very special gallery, which has extremely unique architecture,” Schrade said. Joining a rich history of artists who have participated in Dartmouth’s residency program, Schrade brought his perspective — which often focuses on liminality and the unlikely intersections of stories — to a campus that may need a reminder to stop and contemplate these concepts.
“In this time of high-speed imagery, into the world of Schrade’s art. it’s special to have a slow thing like a “Each piece really has a space painting on the wall,” Schrade said. to breathe,” Schrade said of the The gallery, organization of which Schrade the gallery. The has adopted for “One of the benefits curving walls the term, is tucked of the unique art and sharp angles into a side of the of the room Hopkins Center residency program provide a bit of a for the Arts oft at Dartmouth is challenging area passed by students. to stage, however, that Schrade now The glass door, according to however, only has the freedom to Schrade. Yet, the shows the tip of experiment with the decision to hang the iceberg where the two largest Schrade’s work is continuation of the paintings back-toconcerned. back, suspended series.” Approaching in the center, the entrance, one afforded the works is struck by a large an important level painting free-hanging in the center of of separation that allows them to each the space, independent of any walls. The have their own impact. This inventive work’s bright, warm colors draw you in, organization allows students to consider and the bike-riding figure in the painting the subject matter’s translation into beckons you to move with the character artistic execution.
“This is an exhibition that visually tries to connect central European poetry and history with African history, digging into the very early crossings with those histories,” Schrade said. “:listenings” is inspired by the work of a medieval German writer, Wolfram von Eschenbach, whose work Schrade connects with African history. In addition to common threads about the in-between spaces of the world, all of Schrade’s series are ongoing. For “:listenings,” which is only one year old, Schrade said, “This is really just the beginning.” One of the benefits of the unique art residency program at Dartmouth is that Schrade now has the freedom to experiment with the continuation of the series. As opposed to the traditional artistin-residence model, where the work an artist produces while on campus ends up being, according to Schrade, “usually very extravagant pieces,” the College’s residency flips the norm on its head.
Beginning the term with his pre-made exhibition and a lecture, Schrade is now able to focus on meeting with students and being a guest lecturer in classes. Additionally, Schrade is able to create new work and experiment with varying materials. While living in Amherst, MA as a professor at Hampshire, Schrade said he has always been aware of Dartmouth and the Hood Museum’s importance within the region as a center of artistry. “It’s important if you’re in New England and interested in art … of course it was on my map, always,” Schrade said. The artist’s first visit to the Hood was in 2008, very shortly after he first moved to America. It is a “wonderful and generous residency,” Schrade said of the opportunity. For students passing by the gallery, Schrade encouraged drop-ins. “I hope people will take the extra minute,” said Schrade.
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019
Review: ‘Dumbo’ is an aimless live-action remake of a classic B y Sebastian Wurzrainer The Dartmouth Staff
In his essay “What is Digital Cinema?” media theorist Lev Manovich notes that cinema ultimately began with animation. Magic lanterns, phenakistoscopes, zootropes. They all relied, in a sense, on a form of hand-drawn animation. Whereas many of his fellow theorists posit that cinema is the “art of the index,” defined by its ability to record reality, Manovich contends that its very origins position cinema as “the art of motion.” Thus, for Manovich, the dominance of computer-generated imagery animation in “live-action” films in recent years is not some existential threat to the very essence of film but rather the medium returning to its roots. I n d e e d , wh at I ’ve a lw ay s appreciated about Manovich’s thesis is that it uses a historical argument to simultaneously engage with and circumvent the age-old film theory debate about “What is cinema?” As I mentioned in my previous article about “Game of Thrones,” I’ve always found this to be a decidedly banal point to get hung up on. While Manovich proposes a decidedly non-indexical answer to this classic theoretical query, his essay — perhaps unintentionally — implies that audiences don’t really care about this question. It’s not that a casual moviegoer can’t tell the difference between the use of practical “indexical” effects in the original Star Wars films versus the largely “animated” effects in recent Marvel films, for example. Rather, if the story is well told, if the characters are compelling and if the filmmaking is solid, then it just doesn’t matter. After all, cinema is the “art of motion,” and in regards
to the classical Hollywood style, one action visualization of previously might modify Manovich’s original animated imagery if the distinction maxim to assert that it is the “art of between live-action and animation storytelling through motion.” were irrelevant? Indeed, there is a I mention Manovich’s essay degree of irony to the fact that Disney because it illuminates an almost could not create these live-action paradoxical quality in the recent remakes without extensive reliance spate of Disney live-action remakes on animation. After all, the eerie lions of animated classics. These remakes in “The Lion King” trailer aren’t real tend to vary dramatically in the degree lions (and it shows!), just as Dumbo in to which they are advertised around “Dumbo” is not a real baby elephant nostalgia for the iconic imagery of (and it also shows!). In a sense, Disney the original film. The marketing for masquerades animated models as the upcoming remake of “The Lion live-action, begging us to notice an King,” for instance, has focused far appreciable difference between the more on the film’s near shot-for-shot two methods of filmmaking. recreation of beloved scenes than the All of this speaks to why Tim marketing for the B u r t o n ’ s new remake of “In a sense, Disney “Dumbo,” the “Dumbo” ever most recent did. Nevertheless, masquerades offering in this even a film like animated models bizarre trend, is “Dumbo,” which such a confused, as live-action, is most certainly muddled mess of not a particularly begging us to notice a film. It is, put faithful remake, an appreciable simply, utterly tries to harken uncertain about back to the most difference between what it wants to be, famous moments the two methods of torn ceaselessly from its 1941 b e t w e e n filmmaking.” p r e d e c e s s o r. polarities. Whether it be Live-action? through a variant Animation? A on the hallucinatory “Pink Elephants faithful remake? Or a macabre and on Parade” sequence or the inclusion unique Tim Burton film — all of these of the band Arcade Fire’s cover of ambitions are fighting for dominance the lullaby “Baby Mine,” the appeal in the film, ultimately tearing the final of this film still rests in part on the result to pieces and exposing it for chance to see the ethos of animation the uninspired cash-grab that it is. visualized in live-action. Thus, as “Dumbo” is not a terrible film, but it Hollywood cinema increasingly lacks a coherent vision and thus gets blurs the boundaries between live- drowned by its own cultural moment. action and animation — thereby Just as live-action and animation are approaching the ultimate “art of collapsing into one another, altering storytelling through motion” — the very nature of cinema, we are these Disney live-action remakes seem also in the process of reveling in desperate to keep those boundaries our nostalgia while simultaneously firm and defined. After all, what addressing the many sins of the past. would be the point of seeing a live- Rather than navigate these issues with
grace and delicacy, the film either manner possible. Rather than growing ignores them or opts for blunt, easy organically from the story, they feel like answers. boxes that Kruger felt begrudgingly The story has largely been obligated to check. The result is invented from scratch, introducing neither thoughtful, progressive nor new characters, conflicts and settings. enlightened but, instead, intensely Yet screenwriter Ehren Kruger was insincere — none of which is helped still clearly instructed to shoehorn by a director who appears to be largely the more memorable moments from on autopilot. Tim Burton has made the original film into his adaptation, some genuinely spectacular films (“Ed which is precisely Wood”) and some h o w yo u g e t “Watching ‘Dumbo truly lackluster random scenes ones (“Mars that do nothing is like getting sucked Attacks!”). But to further the into a vaccum of only recently has plot and themes, his work started though they are nothingness and then to feel stale and given an immense spat out the other side uninspired. Even amount of weight 12 hours later having at his worst, Tim in terms of Burton’s work visual language. changed not one iota.” used to always Likewise, most of feel like it was the actors appear personal. While to be entirely lost, he became unclear about famous for what kind of performance would his film’s gothic atmospheres and be appropriate for this particular eccentric designs, his best work was film. Colin Farrell and child actors always grounded by a uniquely human Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins touch. I suppose the curse of fame is all try to play the material straight that now studios only appear to want as the protagonists, while Michael him for his skills as a “visionary.” Keaton overacts the villain with a Yet even the imagery in “Dumbo” is “go-broke-or-go-home” attitude. decidedly tame; even settings or set Each approach seems appropriate in pieces that should have appealed to different moments, but never together. Burton’s sensibilities on paper have Only Eva Green as an enigmatic been shot in the most generic manner trapeze artist seems suited for walking imaginable. the film’s utterly inconsistent tonal Watching “Dumbo” is like getting tight-rope walk. sucked into a vacuum of nothingness Even the direction and screenplay and then spat out the other side 12 seem uncommitted to any consistent hours later having changed not one thematic or narrative drive. Kruger’s iota. As a film, it is not just lost amidst a screenplay tries to shine a spotlight sea of theoretical, historical, thematic on cruelty toward animals, women and narrative tensions, but it is also in STEM and not selling-out to decidedly apathetic toward those a large, capitalist corporation. All tensions. “Dumbo” is not about the of these topics are worthy and “art of storytelling through motion” deserving of examination, but they are — it is about the art of lazy, sluggish incorporated in the most lazy, obvious and barely motivated corporate greed.