The Dartmouth 04/19/18

VOL. CLXXV NO.19

RAIN HIGH 45 LOW 33

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

The Dartmouth Staff

OPINION

AHSAN: THE SOCIAL SCIENCE PAGE 6

ALLARD: BAN THE BOX PAGE 6

MAGANN: CALL IT WHAT IT IS PAGE 7

ARTS

A CONVERSATION WITH ARTS: LEYA’S ISLAND GRILL IS STILL FIGURING IT OUT PAGE 8

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The bears are back in town

Walters elected to Student Assembly

By WALLY JOE COOK

Mon ik Walter s ’19 will become the first black female Student Assembly president in Dartmouth’s history. Walters and her running mate Nicole Knape ’19 will also become the first all-female SA president and vice president pair since 2008. “ We u n d e r s t a n d h o w important it is to put our best foot forward, given that we are really setting the stage up in a completely different way,” Walters said.

Knape noted that Walters’s election as the first black, female SA president is “fantastic” for

the College’s 250th year. “ [ Wa l t e r s ] a n d I a re ecstatic,” Knape said. “[Tuesday] night was full of happiness and joy and all of our hard work really paid off.”

Walters added that she and Knape “are really changing the game.”

Walters received 1,030 of the 1,789 votes cast for SA president, while Knape received 945 of 1,789 votes for SA vice president. Alex Petros ’19 finished second in the race for SA president with 336 votes and John Duggan ’19 finished third SEE ELECTIONS PAGE 3

The Dartmouth Staff

“Do you miss BarHop?” asked a campus-wide email on Apr. 13.

The invitation urged students to come to “Clubhouse,” a social event being hosted that night by the house system to replace BarHop, a program which has been on hiatus since May 2017. The roughly 400 students who attended the event enjoyed free food, student

COURTESY OF GEORGE MORRIS

A previously removed black bear has set her paws in Hanover once again.

B y ANTHONY ROBLES

Clubhouse attracts 400 community members

By EILEEN BRADY

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

performances and activities like coloring and board games.

Alcohol was also available for attendees aged 21 and over.

Christine Dong ’19, who attended Clubhouse, noted that one of the event’s strengths is its similarity to BarHop. Clubhouse, like BarHop, is a place where students can interact socially outside of the Greek system, SEE CLUBHOUSE PAGE 5

The Dartmouth Staff

Hanover’s most c o n t rove r s i a l a n i m a l resident is back in town.

T he black bear fir st spotted in the fall of 2016 has returned — this time with four new cubs in tow.

Their return marks the latest episode in a saga that attracted national attention last May. After two of the sow’s yearlings set foot in a local home, New Hampshire Fish and Game officials planned to capture and euthanize the sow and her three ye a r l i n g s . H o w e v e r, following public outcry

over the bears’ intended fates, Gov. Chris Sununu ordered the bears be relocated to northern New Hampshire.

Despite the order, only the sow’s three yearlings — w h i ch h a d b e e n “kicked out” by their mother in preparation for breeding season — were relocated to Pittsburg, New Hampshire, a town bordering Quebec, according to Fish and Game wildlife biologist and bear project leader Andrew Timmins.

Now, after a summer of breeding and a winter delivery, the sow is back and has been spotted in

backyards, rummaging through trash cans.

The sow is currently being tracked with a radio collar, which will aid in pinpointing areas of the town that might need “additional education” when it comes to removing food attractants, Timmins said.

Although the collar has only been on for a few days, Timmins said the team is already seeing consistency in the sow’s locations.

“It’s gonna tell us how much she’s using natural foods versus humanSEE BEARS PAGE 5

Dana and Gilman to be renovated and repurposed B y Anthony Robles The Dartmouth Staff

The office of planning, design and construction is cur rently renovating Dana Hall and demolishing Gilman Hall, which are both located on the northern side of campus near the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center.

T h e p ro j e c t ’s p r i m a r y intention is to combat academic overcrowding by increasing faculty office and research space at the College, according to vice p re s i d e n t o f p l a n n i n g, design and construction John Scherding.

While the project has been reported by Valley

News to cost around $20 million, Scherding said that his office was not ready to release the costs of the project, as they are still in the estimating stage. He added that while the College is evaluating funding options for the project, decisions have not yet been finalized.

T h e bu i l d i n g s w e r e

constructed in 1963 and have remained unoccupied for several years. Gilman, the for mer biological sciences building, was last occupied in 2010, while Dana, the for mer home of the biomedical library, was last used in 2012, after which the library moved to 37 Dewey Field Road.

“Both buildings were evaluated for the feasibility of renovating, but only Dana proved to be a suitable structure for future needs,” Scherding said.

The Office of Environmental Health and Safety is required to be SEE CONSTRUCTION PAGE 2

PAGE 2

Progam aims to expand health access

their decision to launch their concern that, while urgent, does program in the Upper Valley. As not require emergency treatment.

The Dartmouth Staff an EMT, Valentini observed that On the other hand, for patients Geisel School of Medicine students some patients would call daily with with chronic illnesses, paramedics Nick Valentini 13’ MED’20 and health issues that did not require monitor ongoing problems with Karissa LeClair MED’20 launched emergency treatment. Often, weekly or biweekly visits, Valentini a paramedicine program that patients do not need hospital added. partners medical students with local care, but the only resource that “The ability to monitor patients paramedics and emergency medical EMTs can offer w i t h s eve re technicians to provide primary is transport to “The ability to chronic health care service for residents in the a n e m e rg e n c y monitor patients with ph erlop sb l ke eme ps Upper Valley, the first of its kind department, he severe chronic health in New Hampshire. The program said. them as serves individuals who have specific According to problems helps keep healthy as illnesses that require medical LeClair, these possible and attention but do not necessitate repeated 911 calls them as healthy as out of the emergency hospital treatment. and emergency possible and out of the hospital,” said Currently, the program operates t r a n s p o r t s fo r Clay Odell, hospital.” in Orford and Piermont, serving non-emergency executive 12 patients who are being treated h e a l t h i s s u e s director of by primary care providers at pose a significant -CLAY ODELL, EXECUTIVE Upper Valley Dartmouth-Hitchcock Lyme clinic, financial burden A m bu l a n c e, Valentini said. to the healthcare DIRECOTR OF UPPER an ambulance According to Valentini and system. Thus, the VALLET ANBULANCE s e r v i c e LeClair, the program began as a pair’s program that serves way to fill what they perceived as a aims to improve several New gap in the rural healthcare system patients’ health Hampshire and provide preventative care to a n d living and Vermont patients in their homes. For many conditions as well towns in the patients in the Upper Valley, visiting as reduce pressure Upper Valley. their primary care providers poses o n h e a l t h c a re Odell a significant obstacle to proper systems, LeClair said that the care because it can take more than said. prog ram 40 minutes to physically get to “We’re trying serves as “a their appointments, LeClair said. to fill a gap that partnership She noted that we noticed in the between the EMS service and a this issue is not “We’re trying to fill healthcare system primary care practice.” Valentini specific to the b e t we e n p at i e n t s and LeClair worked closely with a gap we noticed Upper Valley, who might require Odell to obtain the proper licenses b u t a p p l i e s in the healthcare visiting nurses and to operate the paramedicine to any rural system between more intense daily program in conjunction with c o m m u n i t y. care and patients who existing services provided by Upper The p a i r patients who might could be totally self- Valley Ambulance. began planning require visiting sufficient,” Valentini Valentini and LeClair also their project said. “There’s a big worked with Cheri Mather, a nurses and more in the fall of g ray area in the physician at Dartmouth-Hitchcock 2 0 1 6 , w h e n intense daily care middle of people Lyme clinic, and Thomas Trimarco, Valentini and and patients who who could benefit the EMS medical director for LeClair were from once or twice Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical both selected could be totally per week check-ins, Center and an assistant professor for the Geisel’s self-sufficient.” or who might not of medicine at Geisel, to obtain P a n o Ro d i s be able to make it to licenses to run the project in Fellowship, an their primary care the state of New Hampshire. e i g h t - m o n t h -NICK VALENTINI ’13 office for visits, so we Mather and Trimarco serve as f e l l o w s h i p MED’20 can send people out community medical director and an for first-year to them.” emergency medical director for the Geisel students The extent of program, respectively. According to design and launch a project in care provided by the community to Valentini, Mather and other compassion-centered medical care. paramedics varies with each physicians at the Lyme Clinic Before coming to Geisel, both patient’s needs, Valentini said. have identified and recommended Valentini and LeClair worked as Sometimes, primary care providers patients who would benefit from EMTs in New England, and their will request that community community paramedicine checkexperiences in these jobs influenced paramedics check one specific ins to participate in the program.

This past winter, Valentini and CORRECTIONS LeClair also established an elective course at Geisel in which medical We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, students care for the patients please email editor@thedartmouth.com. involved in the program. This Correction appended (April 18, 2018): The online version year, eight students enrolled in the of “Geisel students work to increase rural access to healthcare with elective, Valentini said. paramedicine” has been updated to include Nick Valentini ’13 MED’20’s In the future, Valentini and undergraduate class year.

LeClair said they hope to continue to expand the program both by Correction appended (April 18, 2018): The online version of recruiting more medical students “Another Side of Dartmouth: Alex Battison Juggles Late Night Shifts to serve in it and by expanding to With Studying Math” has been updated to more accurately characterize more towns in New Hampshire and the difference in median income between Fairlee and Hanover.

Vermont.

B y Gigi Grigorian

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Construction for Dana and Gilman occurs

involving the abatement period of hazardous materials and then involved in the abatement of the involving the demolition of the buildings due to the presence building itself. of asbestos and polychlorinated “There’s not much of Gilman biphenyls in Dana and Gilman. left at this point,” Scherding said.

PCBs, which are a chlorine Hanover town manager Julia c ompound , were b an n ed i n Griffin said that as part of the site1979 by the plan approval, United States the project would Environmental “When we review also require the P r o t e c t i o n plans as the construction of Agency amidst a sidewalk and planning board, concerns re t a i n i n g w a l l o v e r t h e i r we’re obviously from North Park u n i n t e n d e d concerned with the Street down impact on the east side of h u m a n a n d ize of the building, College Street, an environmental but we’re typucally improvement that health, while the town has been as concerned about as bes to s h as recommending to been linked to utility connections.” the College for mesothelioma, several years. a form of lung “When we cancer, as well - JULIA GRIFFIN, review plans as the as other lung HANOVER TOWN planning board, diseases. we’re obviously MANAGER In addition concerned with to the new the size of the office and bu i l d i n g, bu t research space, we’re typically as the renovated concerned about Dana Hall will also include a café, utility connections,” Griffin said. a graduate student lounge and a “We tend not to be involved in new glass facade, Scherding said. decisions about which departments Proposals for renovation were Dartmouth is planning to move brought forth at a Hanover there and what the inter nal planning board meeting on Apr. configuration of the building is.”

3. Due to the Griffin said fact that there that the area of are there are campus where c u r re n t l y n o “The town is eager to Dana and plans to erect see that whole area Gilman Halls a new building located has redeveloped because are where Gilman been “in f lux p r e v i o u s l y it’s obviously an for the last few s t o o d , t h e important area to the years.” Under project proposal former College f o r G i l m a n campus.”

P re s i d e n t J i m differed from Yo n g K i m , a that of Dana. proposal was -JULIA GRIFFIN, The Gilman brought forward proposal was HANOVER TOWN that would have for its reuse as MANAGER replaced Gilman parking spaces with a sleek and and professor modern building, access to Dana according and down to the to Griffin.

Life Sciences H o w e v e r, Center],” construction on H a n o v e r that building director of never occured, planning, which she zoning and attributed to codes director the “changing R o b e r t priorities of the Houseman said. administration” According to after current Scherding, the College President project commenced last November Phil Hanlon replaced Kim. and is on track to be completed “The town is eager to see that prior to the fall term of 2019. whole area redeveloped because The demolition of Gilman Hall it’s obviously an important area has been a two-step process, first of the campus,” Griffin said.

FROM CONSTRUCTION PAGE 1

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

First all-female president vice president pair since 2008 elected priority will be to create a new Student Assembly website. Knape with 327 votes. Hannah Pruitt ’19, added that the website will update Duggan’s running mate, finished the student body on executive second in the SA vice presidential meetings and campus race with 338 events. votes; Rachel “If we were to get After the Kesler ’19, website is completed, elected, our first step Petros’s Walters said she and r u n n i n g would be to make Knape will focus on mate, placed Student Assembly addressing mental third with health and sexual 3 2 6 ; a n d more accessible and assault on campus by C a r l o s more effective.” creating committees Polanco and working closely ’21 came in with student groups fourth with -NICOLE KNAPE ’19, that already work 126 votes. with those issues.

STUDENT ASSEMBLY This year’s Walters added election saw VICE PRESIDENT ELECT t h at h e r g u i d i n g a decrease in philosophy is “it takes the number a village,” because of ballots she understands the importance cast for both SA president and vice of working with different groups president compared to last year. In across campus. the 2017 election, 1,960 ballots Po t e n t i a l c a n d i d a t e s h a d were cast for both SA president and to attend a Student Assembly vice president. However, this year’s information session and submit election received more ballots than a petition with 100 student both 2016 and 2015, when 1,556 signatures of approval before they and 1,632 ballots were cast for SA could receive a spot on the ballot, president, respectively. according to Elections Planning Walters and Knape already have and Advisory Committee chair plans for their first days in office. Luke Cuomo ’20. Afterwards, According to Walters, their first candidates could partake in a week FROM ELECTIONS PAGE 1

of campaigning before the debate, which took place Monday night in Dartmouth Hall.

The debate featured the three presidential candidates and three of the four vice presidential candidates. Polanco did not attend.

“We had a good turnout,” Cuomo said in an interview with The Dartmouth after the event.

“T he candidates were wellprepared and I was impressed by the thoughtfulness and seriousness they gave in their answers.”

The one-hour debate, which was moderated by The Dartmouth editor-in-chief Zachary Benjamin ’19, covered campus issues, such as sexual assault awareness and mental health care.

In interviews with The Dartmouth prior to the debate, the candidates discussed their platforms.

Walters said that she was interested in getting more students from different corners of the student body involved in Student Assembly. She also said that some of her ticket’s most important issues were diver sity, sexual violence awareness and mental health.

“If we were to get elected, our first step would be to make

Student Assembly more accessible Petros’ priorities were to improve and more ef fective,” Knape mental health resources and make said. She specified that she and the faculty tenure process more Walters’ plan included creating transparent. the aforementioned Pe t ro s a d d e d we b s i t e, o p e n i n g that he and Kesler executive meetings “The candidates would also work to to the public and were wellbridge the divide reaching out to clubs a m o n g g ro u p s and organizations prepared of students on for input on campus and I was campus. issues. uring the impressed by the d D Wa l t e r s a d d e d ebate, the that inclusivity is the thoughtfulness candidates greatest issue facing and seriousness discussed what Dartmouth and that motivated them she and Knape aim to they gave in their to run for Student “bring [marginalized answers.”

Assembly. communities] to the W a l t e r s larger conversation said that her t h at ’s b e i n g h a d -LUKE CUOMO experience with about Dartmouth.”

Student Assembly ’20, ELECTIONS Duggan said as a South House that his and Pruitt’s PLANNING senator inspired m a i n p r i o r i t y AND ADVISORY her to campaign would be to address for the presidency. issues with sexual COMMITTEE CHAIR Knape said that assault awareness, she hoped to mental health care represent more and the house communities. students on campus through her Additionally, he proposed allowing position as vice president. upperclassmen to apply for waivers “There are a lot of people [who] to live with friends in other house are left out on this campus,” Knape communities. said. “I can’t just hear those stories Kesler said that two of her and and not act on them.”

DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

On Monday, all three candidate pairings participated in a debate in the basement of Dartmouth Hall. Topics discussed included sexual assault and mental health policies.

PAGE 4

DARTMOUTHEVENTS

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

CARTOON OF INCOMPETENCE

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

JESSICA LINK ’TH’18

TODAY

8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Exhibit: “Pilgrims, Parades, and Politics,” sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, 7 Lebanon Street, Suite 107

12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Dartmouth Energy Collaborative Bi-Weekly Pizza Lunch, with Daniel Møller Sneum of the Technical University in Denmark, First Floor Commons, Fahey Hall

4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Lecture: “Scenes from a Life: From the Auschwitz Death March to the International Court of Justice,” with George Washington University professor and international human rights expert Thomas Buergenthal, Filene Auditorium, Moore Building

TOMORROW

10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Symposium: “Intersectionality in the Age of Populism,” with Montgomery Fellow Didier Eribon, Montgomery Fellow Édouard Louis and Roth Distinguished Visiting Scholar Nancy Fraser, Kreindler Conference Hall, Haldeman Center

12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Department of Music Senior Art Exhibition: Monica Alvarez, “The Grand Tour,” The Hop Garage, Hopkins Center for the Arts

ADVERTISING For advertising information, please call (603) 646-2600 or email info@thedartmouth. com. The advertising deadline is noon, two days before publication. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement. Opinions expressed in advertisements do not necessarily reflect those of The Dartmouth, Inc. or its officers, employees and agents.

The Dartmouth, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation chartered in the state of New Hampshire. USPS 148-540 ISSN 01999931

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Sow currently tracked by radio collar Clubhouse sees success FROM BEARS PAGE 1

related foods,” he said. “Although a lot of people may have removed food attractants, not everybody has, and it’s why these issues still continue.”

According to Timmins, the sow primarily feeds on birdseed, as evidenced by the composition of her scat. Due to this, Hanover town officials recommend that residents remove all birdfeeders by Apr. 1.

However, off-campus student rentals and their garbage remain as potential trouble spots, Griffin said.

This is because because students are not aware of how their trash and recyclables should be managed, she said, adding that landlords do not always provide students with either acceptable storage containers or spaces like garages to hold trash.

“It’s not unusual for students to leave their trash outside 24/7, and those are just gold mines for hungry sows and cubs,” Griffin said.

“We have a lot of student rentals in the neighborhoods [that the sow] frequents. The places where we most often see trash strewn everywhere . . . and recycle bins dumped over and emptied have been places where students are renting.”

According to Griffin, the town of Hanover sent out a Code Red message on Apr. 9 alerting residents in the neighborhoods in which the sow has been spotted. Code Red is a telephone notification system used by the town to alert residents about emergencies or specific situations, such as the reemergence of the sow.

Griffin added that on Apr. 13, the town asked the College’s administration to send out this same message to the Dartmouth community, with a focus on students living off-campus. The message was sent through VOX Daily on Monday morning, stressing that bird feeders should no longer be left outside and that trash and recycling bins should be taken outside only on the day — not night before — of pick-ups. The message also emphasized that barbecue grills should be brought inside after they have been cooled.

Any households that do not comply with these regulations could be a subject to a fine exceeding $500.

“It needs to be 100 percent,” Timmins said. “You can have 50 percent or 70 percent of the attractants removed, but whatever’s left is still going to provide her with enough resources to keep her in the area, so it’s gotta be all or nothing.”

After the family’s den was discovered this year by Hinsley and game cameras, Griffin said New Hampshire Fish and Game were immediately contacted to develop a plan to “ultimately relocate the

family.”

The operation on Apr. 13 to fit the sow with the collar was conducted by nuisance black bear specialist at U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services Nancy Comeau, deputy fire chief Michael Hinsley, local bear expert Ben Kilham, Fish and Game wildlife biologist Will Staats and Timmins.

While the sow’s cubs were asleep in a babysitter tree — a tree typically occupied by cubs while their mother searches for sources of food — the sow was hit with a tranquilizing dart and then fitted with the collar.

Griffin said that as part of their routine inspections, Hinsley, who also serves as the town’s health officer, and Hanover deputy health officer Ryan Borkowski have been routinely taking trips down neighborhood streets in which the sow was previously spotted to inform citizens about bird feeders and trash or recycling bins that have been left out. Although some properties have received multiple visits, she said that town citizens have generally become well-educated on eliminating food attractants.

The sow is currently teaching her cubs how to climb trees and is not an aggressive bear, Griffin said. However, she did advise that anyone walking a dog in the Mink Brook corridor should make sure that their dog is on a leash.

While efforts to minimize attractants and educate Hanover residents are in place, the sow has already found her bearings in the garbage of at least one off-campus house.

The College’s director of research computing, George Morris, who lives in the Currier Place neighborhood, said he spotted the sow on Apr. 15 at around 1 p.m. when the bear first approached his home’s patio looking for food around the grill.

Eventually, the sow moved toward the side of the house and helped herself to “two or three of the garbage bags” in the garbage containers, Morris said.

“Initially, I thought it was a very large dog,” Morris said. “It had a collar, and upon a closer look at the very large dog, it became apparent it was a bear. The bear literally walked right up to the entrance to my study. I was literally six to eight feet away.”

All this, however, did not prevent Morris from taking multiple pictures of the sow as she roamed around.

Griffin said the sow had primarily been spotted in the Storrs Road neighborhood, which borders the Angelo Tanzi Tract of the Mink Brook Preserve, and is located across from the Hanover Co-op food store. According to Griffin,

the entire Preserve has long been bear habitat. She added that as the cubs become larger and more mobile, the sleuth of bears will likely begin to not only venture further west towards the Maple Street neighborhoods and across the brook to the Dayton Drive and Wyeth Road neighborhoods, but into garages and backyards as well.

Sarah Miller ’19 texted her housemate Michael Sun ’19 on Monday night that she thought a bear had raided their trash containers, Sun wrote in an email.

Miller and Sun had not yet had a chance to move their trash bins.

Although Sun hardly believed Miller at first, when he arrived at the house on Valley Road Extension he found that the trash and recycling bins had been “largely emptied” and that trash bags had been ripped open, with their contents strewn almost 30 feet behind the house.

The surrounding snow was stamped with paw prints of various sizes.

Timmins said that he expects the sleuth of bears to be relocated to the northern third of the state.

However, he said that it was simply too early in the year to move the bears because there is a lack of food resources and deep snow cover in that area.

Furthermore, Timmins added that Fish and Game officials have not yet decided whether to keep the sow’s radio collar on once the time comes to move her. He also stated that they have not decided on whether to release the sleuth of bears in the same area in which the yearlings were released or in an alternative area.

“I’m hoping she can stay down [in the area] for at least a month, maybe two months, because it’s going to be that long before the northern part of the state is even close to what you’d call spring conditions,” Timmins said. “If we end up having to move her earlier than that, then that may play into the decision of where she goes.

Perhaps we won’t take her as far north.”

Last year, one of the three yearlings was lawfully shot and killed by a hunter on June 16 in Stornoway, Quebec during one of its legal bear hunting seasons. The fate of the other two yearlings is still unknown, Timmins said.

Compared to her yearlings, whose return to Hanover after being relocated was deemed unlikely, Timmins said that she is the animal with the highest likelihood of returning to the area. Speaking from experience, he said that older adult bears “are the ones most likely to return after being dropped off into an unknown location.”

However, until the sow is removed, Hanover residents will just have to grin and bear it.

FROM CLUBHOUSE PAGE 1

system, Dong said.

“Anyone who enjoys food and being with friends would like Clubhouse,” Dong said. “It’s not like a certain type of student would enjoy it. It’s pretty open — anyone would like it.”

She added that her favorite parts of the second Clubhouse were the sushi, dumplings and student performances.

Kathryn Fuhs ’18 said that she valued the diversity of the Clubhouse participants.

“The coolest part of the event for me as a student and a[n] [undergraduate advisor] is that I could see people from all aspects of Dartmouth,” Fuhs said.

She said she saw classmates, teammates from her sports team and friends she had met through her involvement in Greek life.

“The fact that I could see all these people in one central area was really nice,” Fuhs said.

The Apr. 13 Clubhouse, which took place at House Center B, followed a pilot event that took place on Feb. 16. The first Clubhouse event was attended by roughly 200 students and featured arts and crafts and a disc jockey, according to South House professor Kathryn Lively.

Since the event was first hosted at House Center A, East Wheelock House, North Park House and South House took the lead on much of the planning process, Lively said. She added that Allen House, School House and West House played a larger role in planning the more recent Clubhouse.

The idea for Clubhouse came

from students, according to associate dean of residential life and director of residential education Mike Wooten.

In fall 2017, the house communities were approached by Student Assembly with the idea to host a BarHop-style social event open to campus. Student Assembly went on to co-host the first event, while senior society Palaeopitus co-hosted the second.

One of the best parts of Clubhouse is the unique opportunity for community building among different sectors of campus, Wooten said.

“It was great to look around at the students,” Wooten said. “They were from all across campus and all different ages. We had graduate students at both events, and staff and faculty at both events.”

Wooten added that the house communities hope to build “crosspollinated” communities on campus that encompass “the entirety of our campus culture.”

Despite the program’s publicity tactics, Wooten said that Clubhouse is not an effort to replace the BarHop program.

“There’s no doubt that BarHop was a successful program, and students spoke highly of it and really liked it,” Wooten said. “[Clubhouse] is not an attempt to replace BarHop, but it certainly was a reflection of a certain model that BarHop did very well.”

Both Lively and School House assistant director of residential education Erica Casacci said that although no official plans have been made for the future of the initiative, Clubhouse has been successful so far and will likely continue in the future.

COURTESY OF ERICA CASACCI

Clubhouse featured drinks, activities and music.

PAGE 6

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST SAJID AHSAN ’20

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST SYDNEY ALLARD ’21

The Social Science

Ban the Box

There is a fundamental conflict between profit motive and healthcare justice.

In a recent research report on the financial prospects of genome editing treatments for biotech companies, financial giant Goldman Sachs inadvertently sparked outrage by asking whether curing patients constitutes “a sustainable business model.” The report notes that while curing diseases is, in fact, the point of medicine, it is difficult to maintain “sustained cash flow” to developers and researchers when people do not require prolonged treatment. The reaction from the media and the general public was, predictably, one of immediate anger.

However, the real reason for the profound discomfort this question causes goes deeper than this incident, and even deeper than the matter of genetic engineering or the influence of Goldman Sachs. The disturbing truth that underlies these discussions is that in a system where the responsibility of developing life-saving medication falls to profit-seeking corporations, the question posed in the report is unavoidable.

It is more the crassness of seeing it stated so plainly that inspires disgust than it is the actual calculation behind it. The state of healthcare for much of the population of this country would be regarded as a human rights violation if society had not decided that the tradeoff of certain people being denied refuge from illness was worth the supposed benefits of a private, profit-driven medical-industrial complex. For the most part, the calculus of this decision is obscured by a byzantine healthcare system so exhausting and expensive to navigate that engaging with it rarely leaves time to examine the fundamental root of the misery it creates: the irreconcilable conflict between the philosophical aims of medicine and the profit motive.

Any student who takes enough biology courses will inevitably happen upon the name of Rudolf Virchow, a late 19th century Prussian biomedical scientist. Outside of the laboratory, however, Virchow is notable for an arguably greater contribution to the betterment of the human condition: he was one of the earliest and most ardent activists for a social and political understanding of health justice. In Virchow’s view, the role of the doctor in society was not simply that of a dispassionate scientist, nor was it enough

to simply hope that the machinations of political and economic power would optimally distribute health care on their own. Rather, Virchow wrote, “The physician is the natural attorney of the poor,” and “Medicine is a social science, and politics nothing but medicine at a larger scale.”

Juxtaposed against these lofty ideals, Pfizer’s decision to discontinue research in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s treatment — a decision justified in a press release as bringing “the most value for shareholders and patients” — is even more striking. So is the announcement that the family that owns Purdue Pharma, infamous for its aggressive and allegedly misleading marketing of OxyContin for decades, made the 2015 list of Forbes’ richest U.S. families just as the full horror of the opioid epidemic began to enter the public consciousness. These phenomena are not isolated incidents resulting from a failing system, but rather the urge to maximize profit working as intended. If the entire justification for a profit-driven health industry relies on the notion that it will create optimal healthcare outcomes for the rest of society, it is necessary to examine whether it is actually doing so. If not, it must be asked whether there really is no better allocation of resources than one that creates massive profits for pharmaceutical and insurance executives while deepening income inequality and driving patients into unbearable debt.

There is no easy solution for remaking the leviathan of the American healthcare system. Even the most idealistic supporters of single-payer healthcare will admit they face an uphill battle, particularly given the massive influence that multibillion dollar industries like insurance and pharmaceuticals wield. Change, however, begins first with the acknowledgement that the current conditions are unacceptable, and second, perhaps more importantly, with the affirmation that better things are possible and that tomorrow is not constrained by the failures of yesterday.

If Virchow was right and politics truly is medicine on a large scale, it is long past time this nation acknowledges the sickness infecting its body politic — not only as a series of isolated incidents, but as a systemic crisis in need of transformation.

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ISSUE

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

LAYOUT: Jacob Chalif

SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth

College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com.

Banning the box needs to be reworked before applying it to college applications.

Buried among queries about ethnicity, GPA, extra-curricular activities and legacy status, high school students will find the following question on the Common Application: “Have you ever been adjudicated guilty or convicted of a misdemeanor, felony, or other crime?”

Many Dartmouth students probably do not remember answering that question — for them, it was just one of many tedious boxes to check on the Common Application. But for applicants with criminal records, the question is memorable. One study found that when a question about criminal history was included on the SUNY application, 62.5 percent of applicants with criminal records failed to complete the application process.

Some groups advocate for banning the question from college applications so that people with criminal records have a better chance at receiving higher education. However, when that same question was banned from job applications, the result was not only ineffective, but counterproductive. Rather than jumping to remove the question from applications entirely, colleges should encourage students with criminal records to apply but also ensure that they do, at some point, get access to all students’ criminal records. This would enable them to do their part in keeping students safe and to provide necessary resources to students who have been incarcerated.

Ban the Box started as a campaign to remove questions about a person’s criminal history from job applications. Requiring applicants to disclose this information not only makes it more difficult for formerly incarcerated people to get jobs, but often also dissuades potential applicants from applying in the first place. Formerly incarcerated people are much more likely to reoffend if they can’t find employment. Therefore, the argument goes, it is in society’s best interest to help them get jobs.

Ban the Box campaigns are now springing up on college campuses. New York University recently decided to review undergraduate applications without knowledge of applicants’ prior convictions, and a Ban the Box movement is gaining popularity at Wesleyan University.

Supporters of Ban the Box say that reporting criminal history unfairly disadvantages minority students, considering that students of color, especially black students, are incarcerated at much higher rates than their white counterparts. In fact, black people are more than six times more likely to serve time for drug-related offenses than white people. Considering a student’s criminal history when determining whether to accept them only adds to the discrimination that minorities face.

However, while the idea is certainly noble, banning the box on job applications has had unexpected adverse effects on the people it aimed to help.

Jennifer Doleac of the University of Virginia and Benjamin Hansen of the University of Oregon compared employment data for lowskilled men in areas with and without Ban the Box policies. They found that banning the box decreased the probability of young, low-skilled black men being employed by 5.1 percent.

These findings have been replicated. Amanda Agan of Princeton University and Sonja Starr of the University of Michigan Law School submitted thousands of fake applications online and found that before banning the box was implemented,

white applicants were called back only marginally more often than black applicants. After the box was banned, that disparity skyrocketed: white applicants were called back six times more than their black counterparts.

The researchers postulate that when employers can’t see data about an applicant’s criminal record, they make assumptions based entirely on race.

Employers know that white applicants are less likely to have criminal records than black and Latino applicants, so some of them look upon all white applicants more favorably than upon black and Latino applicants. As a result, the only formerly incarcerated people who benefit from banning the box on college applications are those who are white.

All of this goes to show that racism runs deep and affects far more than just the criminal justice system. Racism, whether conscious or not, will persist despite banning the box. It would be irresponsible not to bear this in mind when considering whether to ban the box on college applications.

One may think that banning the box on college applications would be easier. Since college admissions officers actively seek out diverse student bodies, they are purportedly less likely to make rash decisions based purely on subconscious racial stereotypes. Their existing biases could be balanced by explicit efforts toward diversity.

However, banning the box on college applications presents a unique set of challenges.

Colleges are committed to creating safe environments for their students, especially for minors. While the vast majority of crimes committed on campuses are not committed by people with criminal records, it isn’t unreasonable for colleges to want to know who on their campuses has committed a crime. In fact, it would be a liability for colleges to have violent offenders among their student body without knowing it.

It’s also likely to be in the best interest of students with a criminal record for the institution to be aware, and therefore able to provide support.

College is a big adjustment for anyone, let alone someone who has spent time in the prison system.

Without knowledge of students’ criminal records, colleges can’t provide formerly incarcerated students with the resources they might need.

Most colleges assert that simply checking the box does not disqualify an applicant from being accepted. Kelly Walter, Boston University’s associate vice president and executive director of admissions, said that “regardless of the answer, we would never deny a student admission based on the response to that question.”

Since checking the box does not determine whether a student’s application will be considered, and since the box’s presence deters students with criminal records from applying at all, I propose that the question be left off of the initial application, and only asked once a student has already been accepted. Then, the crime should be reviewed by a group of specially-trained faculty.

If the crime reveals that a student is highly likely to pose a threat of violence, then the college can rescind the acceptance — students know that their acceptance can be rescinded in extenuating circumstances. But, more often than not, I suspect colleges will find applicants worthy of a second chance.

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

PAGE 7

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

STAFF COLUMNIST MATTHEW MAGANN ’21

STAFF COLUMNIST JOSEPH REGAN ’19

Call It What It Is

“DAMN.” Good Music

Forget politics — genocide denial is never excusable.

The desert outside Deir ez-Zour is full of bones. They tumble out of hillsides, thousands of weathered skulls and femurs covered in dust. Up north, in Ras al-Ain, farmers plow through a mass grave, growing their crops amid fields of bones. In Deir ez-Zour itself, some of the remains lay respectfully under the floor of a church — or they did, until the Islamic State occupied the city and blasted the memorial apart. These are the bones of women and children. The men, after all, were often killed where they stood, leaving their families to endure the forced marches out to the extermination sites.

The people who died there in the Syrian Desert did nothing to deserve their fate.

They were Armenian, and for that the Ottomans killed them in a vast, orchestrated extermination. In 1944, Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish lawyer from Poland, created a new term for that kind of systematic murder, the kind suffered first by the Armenians and later by his own people. He called it genocide.

Make no mistake — the Ottoman Empire committed genocide against its Armenian inhabitants. Hundreds of eyewitness accounts detail the killings. Mass graves litter eastern Turkey and northern Syria. Photos of starving families marching to their deaths, testimonies of survivors, ruined villages and Ottoman documents demonstrating genocidal intent provide evidence that leaves the reality of the genocide beyond doubt. The International Association of Genocide Scholars recognizes the atrocities as a genocide, as do 48 U.S. states.

Shockingly, however, there are still those who deny that the genocide ever happened.

April 24 marks Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. Each year around this date, U.S. presidents release statements acknowledg ing and condemning the “mass atrocity” suffered by the Armenian people. Notably, their press releases always commemorate “Armenian Remembrance Day.” The word genocide is conspicuously and intentionally absent; no president except Ronald Reagan has been willing to use the word.

As the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey leads the charge in Armenian Genocide denial. While it admits that the massacres occurred, Turkey denies the systematic nature of the killings and rejects the term genocide, dismissing the murder campaign as a consequence of World War I. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs website even contains apparent justifications: Armenians, the ministry claims, “committed massacres against local Muslims,” “agitated for a separate state” and “with pride committed mass treason.” Turkey criminalizes recognition of the Armenian Genocide, labelling the acknowledgement of this criminal act as “insulting Turkishness.” And America goes along with it.

Turkey remains a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, one that America is loath to offend.

Undoubtedly, recognizing the Armenian Genocide would strain U.S.-Turkish relations.

Turkey considers the issue a critical one, and the Turkish government spends millions of dollars lobbying to prevent U.S. acknowledgement of

the genocide. But does friendship with Turkey justify America’s participation in this deliberate burial of an atrocity?

American politicians consider condemnation of genocide a bargaining chip instead of the absolute it ought to be. This suggests that, to a degree, they find genocide denial tolerable — which should be disturbing.

In middle school, I read Anne Frank’s diary.

My class learned about Auschwitz, the trains and the gas chambers. I still vividly remember the elderly man who visited my school, who spoke to us and showed us the faint number tattooed up his forearm. Years later, I found myself in France, visiting a concentration camp.

I saw the pictures: black and white photos of people crowded into the room where I stood, innocent people condemned to imprisonment and death simply for being Jewish. As much as anti-Semitism still resurfaces, the Holocaust is at least something that society strives to remember.

But the Armenian Genocide isn’t on the public’s mind. Turkey manufactures a controversy over whether it even happened, and in the confusion, the details get lost. Few survivors remain, and the issue seems detached, something that happened long ago and far away.

But the facts of the genocide have not gone away, nor has the suffering of the Armenian people.

And for all that America has remembered the Holocaust and pledged “never again,” even knowledge of the Holocaust has begun to slip away. Last Thursday, April 12, marked Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. In recognition, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany commissioned a survey of 1,350 Americans to gauge Holocaust awareness. The results were startling. Fortyone percent of those surveyed were unable to identify what Auschwitz was. That figure rose to two-thirds for millennials. Similarly, 31 percent of respondents believed that two million or fewer Jews died in the Holocaust (the real figure is around six million). Again, the younger generation displayed a lower awareness, with 41 percent of millennials placing the Jewish death toll at two million or lower. The survey suggests the unthinkable: our society has begun to forget the Holocaust.

If the past is allowed to slip away from public conscience, genocide will happen again.

After the international community failed to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, others noted the precedent. Adolf Hitler, on the eve of his invasion of Poland, proposed a genocide of the Polish people; after all, he allegedly asked his commanders, “Who speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians?”

The systematic extermination of the Armenians was a genocide, and the world needs to recognize it as such. That at least offers some justice for the Armenian people. Beyond that, genocide ought to be established as an absolute wrong, inexcusable in any context.

Acknowledging past genocides forms a key piece of that. Society must remember the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide and all other genocides, past and present. We must vow never to let those memories fade, and to never repeat the horrors of the past. Then, perhaps, we may say those words with conviction: “Never again.”

Kendrick Lamar’s music deserves more than praise.

The Pulitzer Prize Board describes way the writing becomes like fiction, in Kendrick Lamar’s album “DAMN.” as that it seeks to show instead of tell. Anton “a virtuosic song collection unified by Chekhov wrote, “Don’t tell me the moon its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic is shining; show me the glint of light on dynamism that offers affecting vignettes broken glass.” This is the kind of writing capturing the complexity of modern that is needed, and so far it is not apparent African-American life.” in the places where it should be.

This description is fitting, but it is not Dialogue invites awareness, but the enough. N. Scott Momaday’s novel “House Pulitzer Prize Board accomplished this by Made of Dawn,” presents a Native American awarding the prize to Kendrick Lamar. A on trial who realizes that productive discussion that “word by word by word “The feeling of does not implicitly lower these men were disposing hip-hop below the past ‘DAMN.’ is violent, of him in language....” The winners of the Pulitzer Pulitzer Prize Board did profane, urgent, Prize for Music, by focusing its most significant work profound and on music’s social impact by awarding a deserving rather than its technical artist a Pulitzer, but now addictive.” merits, would have been it is in the hands of other fantastic, but it does not publications to engage with occur. In the New York the elements of this album Times article entitled that make it deserving of a Pulitzer. It is “Kendrick Lamar Shakes Up The Pulitzer passively dismissive to read so much about Game: Let’s Discuss,” the title is wrong in the implications of Lamar’s achievement itself. While the writers have good intentions, and almost nothing about the music itself. the discussion devolves into what social My personal experience does not allow media commenters like and dislike, similar me to intimately understand “DAMN.,” to discussions that were had after Bob Dylan but truly great art raises the personal to the won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The universal. When I listen to the beginning problem then, and the problem now, is a bars of “DNA.” — “I got power, poison, seeming inability to shake up the national pain and joy inside my DNA” — goosebumps conversation around the actual feeling of pepper my flesh, because although the “DAMN.” man is totally different from me, I love the The feeling of “DAMN.” is violent, truth he speaks through a hypnotic flow profane, urgent, profound and addictive. alongside the thrum of The first sound any the drums. human being hears Of his Pulitzer, the “What Kendrick Lamar is the beat of a heart New Yorker wrote that does, along with many in the dark. Often, “calling Lamar simply artists manipulate other past and present a relevant choice comes people’s natural human too close to diminishing hip-hop artists, is find preference for this, and his deep expertise.” a way to tell the truth many listen to idiotic The New Yorker misses lyrics paired to a beat so the point. It focuses by pairing lyrics to beat massive they can’t help o n c r i t i c i s m t h a t to flow to rhyme to the but bop their heads. pontificates instead of What Kendrick Lamar overall theme of the thoroughly engaging does, along with many with the album or the album in a way that other past and present artist. This problem is creates a hermetically hip-hop artists, is find best encapsulated by a a way to tell the truth National Review article sealed bomb of human by pairing lyrics to from 2017 that stated, emotion.” beat to flow to rhyme “Most conservatives do to the overall theme not like hip-hop.” The of the album in a way article goes on to argue, “The conservative that creates a hermetically sealed bomb of mind ought to rethink hip-hop, a sometimes- human emotion. As Chuck D said in “He great and always uniquely American art Got Game,” “It might feel good/It might form.” These statements are written by sound a lil sumthin’/But damn the game people who do not seem to have actually if it don’t mean nuthin’/What is game?/ listened to what they believe they are Who got game?/Where’s the game?” “rehabilitating.”

Kendrick Lamar has game, and it means Ke n d r i c k L a m a r d o e s n o t n e e d a whole lot. rehabilitation or appreciation; he needs Articles of the kind I am calling for may real people to listen to the real stuff he is be forthcoming, and some did proliferate saying. He would probably appreciate his after the release of “DAMN.” For something music, rather than its origins, being the as monumental as Kendrick Lamar winning subject of more writing. Publications are the Pulitzer Prize for Music in the same derelict in their duty to the public if they nation that Trump won the presidency not do not accurately reflect the subject of too long before the release of “DAMN.,” their reports. When reporters write about the subject of the conversation needs to traumatic events, there is a catharsis in the pivot to the art of the artist.

PAGE 8

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

A conversation with Arts: Leya’s Island Grill is still figuring it out

By EVAN MORGAN

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

Leya’s Island Grill, Hanover’s newest restaurant, opened in March, promising a mashup of Caribbean and Thai flavors. Four arts writers visited Leya’s on a slow Tuesday night to see how the new eatery stacks up.

The transcript below has been lightly edited and condensed.

Elizabeth Garrison ’21: I read about the restaurant and I didn’t get that it was a Thai place. I knew the current owner worked with the owner of Kata Thai, but it didn’t come to me that it was a Caribbean and Thai restaurant.

Sophie Huang ’21: I think some of the dishes are combined, like barbecue chicken with pineapple fried rice. Or Philly cheesesteak “with an island twist,” according to the menu.

Evan Morgan ’19: This barbecue chicken with pineapple fried rice says it’s served inside a pineapple. Can someone get that? If nobody gets that, I’m going to get it.

All of us agreed that the Caribbean elements of the restaurant — the plantains in particular — had the potential to be a big selling point of Leya’s.

EG: I think I’m going to get a side order of plantains to go.

SH: Plantains are good, and we don’t get them on campus ever.

EG: I’m from Florida, so I’m used to having them with Cuban food.

Sophie ordered the pineapple curry with tofu and Jamaican rice and beans, the dish’s Caribbean twist.

Elizabeth had the red chicken curry, and Evan ordered the barbecue

chicken with pineapple fried rice, both of which came on with a side of plantains. The barbecue chicken dish is normally served in a pineapple, according to the menu, but our waitress told us Leya’s was out of pineapples.

Betty Kim ’20: Oh wow, are they going to make me add a Thai-style fried egg to this meal for two dollars more? Well, they’re not going to make me, but I’m going to really want the egg. Did anyone get drinks?

EM: I just got water. They don’t have drinks on their menu.

Our waitress told us Leya’s does not have its liquor license yet. Drinks were also missing from its menu — when we asked, our waitress told us they have Thai iced tea, pineapple juice and a selection of soft drinks.

Betty ordered the Thai iced tea.

BK: Thai iced tea is a big thing for me. I really like the one from Tuk Tuk Thai.

EM: Did you ever have the one from Thai Orchid? Before they shut down?

BK: I never went to Thai Orchid. I exclusively went to Tuk Tuk, because they were about the same price and about equally good, but Tuk Tuk was closer.

EM: I think the general consensus was that Tuk Tuk was at the top of the Thai food chain, Thai Orchid was slightly below and Kata Thai was far below the top. But I heard the attraction was that Kata Thai was bring-your-own-bottle.

SH: There should be more food in this town that isn’t Thai. Is there jerk anything on this menu? It’s hard to see the “island” part or the “Caribbean” part of this place.

Our waitress came over with the

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Carribean-Thai fusion restaurant has 41 reviews and 3.5 stars on Yelp.

three dishes we had ordered. Betty, whose iced tea also arrived, ordered a pad kee mao to help us compare the drunken noodles at Leya’s to the ones at Tuk Tuk. BK (sipping iced tea): It’s more white than Tuk Tuk’s — and more sweet and milky.

SH: Not as strong as Tuk Tuk’s?

BK: This is fine, but I do like Tuk Tuk’s better.

EG: I like this red curry dish. It was good. I would probably say that the one at Tuk Tuk was better — and I am a little disappointed with the plantains.

SH: I thought they would be sticky and kind of soft, like they generally are. This is more like plantain chips.

EM: The Thai-Caribbean combination is interesting. Some of it is working and some of it isn’t.

In my dish, the chicken combines really well with the fried rice. But I’m not sure I agree with the choice of plantains on the side. I was expecting something a little different.

Betty’s pad kee mao arrived. After a few bites, she had to ask for some Sriracha sauce on the side.

BK: This is really bland compared to Tuk Tuk. I don’t know if that’s the restaurant or the combination with Caribbean food.

SH: This definitely doesn’t feel authentic to any cuisine.

EM: The whole space seems like they’re still trying to figure out who they are. When we came in, they were playing Michael Jackson, and then “Africa” by Toto and then they switched to Nicki Minaj. Now it’s “We Found Love” by Rihanna.

BK: But I can get behind Rihanna.

SH: How’s the pad kee mao? The one I get at Tuk Tuk is so spicy, and here you had to add Sriracha.

BK: I’ve tried Tuk Tuk’s pad kee mao. You can ask for Thai spicy, and that’s too much spice, but even the regular one is pretty spicy.

EM: I guess if you want more spice here, you have to ask for it.

How’s yours, Sophie?

SH: Pretty good. The beans and rice instead of regular rice is interesting.

EM: Does it work?

EG: Personally, I have definitely had yummier beans and rice.

SH: My beans aren’t fully cooked — they’re a bit hard. And the rice has a different texture from Thai rice.

If the food felt a little confused, so did the decor. The tables and chairs

EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Leya’s Island Grill opened on March 6. The restaurant is located on 6 Allen Street.

were low-slung, modern-looking and brightly colored. Meanwhile, paper lanterns hung from the ceiling and one of the walls was paneled in wood.

BK: The ambience sort of says to me that they’re not sure what they’re trying to do.

SH: I wonder what they’re going for. It seems like two people were planning a restaurant, and they couldn’t decide how to decorate it – modern or more traditional – so they just did both.

With the meal nearly finished, we paid the bill. Our service was very friendly and attentive, although our waitress was only taking care of one other party.

BK: Is it any cheaper than Tuk Tuk? EM: The prices are either about the same or a little more expensive.

EG: I ate all my food. I was satisfied.

EM: Yeah, on the whole, I’m relatively pleased. I’m just still not convinced that I would come here instead of Tuk Tuk. I felt that was going to be the sticking point with this restaurant: Does it compare favorably to Tuk Tuk? Because they’re both basement Thai places.

BK: The chicken is really weird.

I can’t describe it. Here, try a piece.

Is that real chicken?

EM (trying a piece of the chicken): It’s super soft. My chicken was more crunchy on the outside and softer on the inside.

BK: That’s the overall theme.

A little confused, a little bland, but satisfactory.

EM: My take is that they still haven’t figured out who they are.

Even the little things seem a little confused. Our water glasses clearly

aren’t part of a set — they’re not supposed to go together.

BK: I realized how much work went into making a restaurant when my parents opened their restaurant.

They’ve had three, and my mom does a really good job of doing interior décor without spending a ton of money renovating everything. But it’s hard. If you buy a bunch of nice things and put them together in a room, it doesn’t necessarily all work together.

EM: It’s got to be cohesive somehow.

On the steps up to the street, we shared our final impressions.

EM: Would you all go there again?

BK: To be honest, no, because I would go to Tuk Tuk instead. Overall it was fine – it wasn’t bad. But my meal was about $17 total. It wasn’t worth that much money. The real appeal of Leya’s would be that they had fusion food.

EM: Having a place in town where you can buy plantains is cool.

Were they the best plantains I’ve ever had? No. SH: If I’ve had too much Tuk Tuk in a week or I’m not really feeling anywhere else in town, maybe I would go there.

Leya’s has the potential to be an interesting restaurant, but it has to work out its kinks in order to find a niche in Hanover’s restaurant ecosystem. The liquor license needs to come, drinks need to be placed on the menu and the decor needs a refresh. A greater commitment to Caribbean-Thai fusion would help differentiate Leya’s from Tuk Tuk — and set it up to find success with students.