The Dartmouth 09/20/2019

VOL. CLXXVI NO. 64

PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 76 LOW 53

OPINION

OPINION ASKS: U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY PAGE 4

VERBUM ULTIMUM: A HOUSE DIVIDED PAGE 4

ARTS

REVIEW: TAYLOR SWIFT’S ‘LOVER’ TELLS STORIES OF LOVE AND LOSS PAGE 7

SPORTS

COLE SULSER ’12 GETS CALLED UP TO PLAY FOR THE TAMPA BAY RAYS PAGE 8

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COPYRIGHT © 2019 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Trips program enacted Class of 2023 saw record yield rate, changes to training, increase in socioeconomic diversity programming at Lodge

B y KYLE MULLINS

The Dartmouth Staff

The Class of 2023 this year chowed down on vegetarian lasagna, lugged blocks of Cabot cheese into the wilderness and struggled to sort out which of their trip leaders’ comments were helpful advice or pranks — much like previous classes of new Dartmouth students.

However, there were a number of changes to the First-Year Trips program this year that impacted croolings, trip leaders and trippees alike.

Perhaps the most significant change was the movement of trip leader training from the traditional site of Gilman Island, a small piece of land on the Connecticut River just south of Hanover, to the Bema. According to an email statement addressed to the Trips volunteer community, during an exhibition of Trips artifacts, a map was discovered in Rauner Library that showed the island under a former name, one that SEE TRIPS PAGE 3

Utility expansion causes disruptions to campus B y GRACE LEE The Dartmouth

When students returned to Hanover this fall, many were surprised to run into a pop-up traffic light, which did not exist before, at the inter section of Webster Avenue and N. Main Street.

The light had been installed as a temporary solution to guide cars around the construction sites on campus, but its presence confused students and obstructed

traffic.

The construction across campus is due to the NorthWest Utility Expansion P ro j e c t , i nvo l v i n g t h e installation of campuswide hot and chilled water networks. Construction workers are building underground pipes so that Sudikof f Hall and the McLaughlin Cluster can supply hot and cold water, respectively, across campus SEE CONSTRUCTION PAGE 5

DARREN GU/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Dean of admissions and financial aid Lee Coffin spoke to The Dartmouth about the admissions process.

B y ABIGAIL MIHALY The Dartmouth Staff

The College earned what dean of admissions and financial aid Lee Coffin referred to as the “triple crown” of admissions this year, setting three institutional records. In addition to the largest application pool for the first time since 2012 and the lowest admit rate in College history, 7.9 percent, the Class of 2023 also boasted Dartmouth’s highest final yield rate: 64 percent, up from 61 percent last year and 58 percent for the Class of 2021.

The yield rate represents the portion of students offered admittance to the College who eventually chose to attend

Dartmouth.

While Coffin believes that these rankings are important as “measures of institutional health” for the Board of Trustees, he said he does not consider the numbers as a framework for the way he thinks about the admissions process.

For Coffin and his team, while the admissions process may disproportionately center on numbers and rankings, the year-long process of recruitment and selection can best be described as holistic. Senior associate director of admissions Isabel Bober ’04 sees the idea of “holistic process” — a tenet of Dartmouth’s and many of its peer institutions’ admissions — as a “combination between

data and voice.”

Aside from the recruited athletes, the admission office’s 24 staff members read each individual application submitted by prospective members of the Class of 2023.

Each staff member is assigned a geographic recruitment area and focuses on applications from within this area. This allows the staff member to become familiar with local high schools and guidance counselors, testing norms and attitudes in their assigned communities, according to Coffin.

Next, during the month of March, committees of six meet to discuss applications.

SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 5

PAGE 2

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

One-on-one with presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg B y EILEEN BRADY

The Dartmouth Staff

Last month, Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, IN and a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, spoke at a campaign event at the Hanover Inn. During the 45-minute event, Buttigieg covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from mental health and gun control to cybersecurity and the use of military force.

One of the younger candidates in the large field of Democratic candidates, Buttigieg has received significant attention in the early months of the primary, especially given his resume that includes a Rhodes scholarship, eight years as an intelligence officer in the United States Naval Reserve and seven years as the mayor of a Midwestern city.

But recent polling shows Buttigieg lagging behind the current leaders in the nomination race.

After the event, The Dartmouth sat down with the South Bend, IN mayor for an interview on topics important to young voters, such as his views on American exceptionalism and New Hampshire House Bill 1264, a state law passed in 2018 that could make it more difficult for college students from out-of-state to vote in New Hampshire next year.

Many students at Dartmouth may not be able to vote in New Hampshire in the next election due to a recently-passed state law that could restrict out-ofstate students from voting here.

As president, what would you do to protect voting rights?

PB: This is the kind of voter suppression that I’m talking about when I call for a new Voting Rights Act. Some of it is racially motivated.

What we see here is it’s motivated on a partisan basis by people who think they will lose if students are able

to vote. And so when I talk about prioritizing enforcement of voting rights, this is exactly the kind of cynical maneuver that I’m seeking to reverse.

What would you tell a young person who fears that their children might be worse off than they are?

PB: Well, that’s something I’m powerfully motivated to work on.

I guess my basic message is, it’s not too late, but we have to act. If we don’t do something to make our economy more equitable, if we don’t do something to make our climate more livable, then we should absolutely be worried that that will happen. But it’s up to us. These are all the consequences of political choices. There’s no cosmic force changing the climate, or constraining our economic future, or preventing us from dealing with gun violence or keeping us unhealthy. These are choices that have been made and choices that could be made differently.

As president, how would you strengthen prospects for social and economic mobility for young people?

PB: Well first of all, social and economic mobility largely depend on having healthy public infrastructure.

That’s everything from making sure clean, safe drinking water is in every neighborhood to making sure we have good public schools. It is unfortunate to see that the best places to live out the American Dream of social mobility are no longer in America.

I think that has to change. We have spent the last 40 years disinvesting in public things like infrastructure and education for the purpose of funding giant tax cuts for the wealthiest. That has consequences, and it has made it harder for people to get ahead, even though the idea of getting it

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

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

South Bend, IN mayor Pete Buttigieg held a campaign event at the Hanover Inn last month.

was one of the fundamental ideals of this country.

Many Americans have seen the election of President Donald Trump as a rejection of what he called career politicians and the liberal elite. Given your unique position as both a Midwestern mayor and a Harvard-educated Rhodes scholar, how would you balance the oftentimes conflicting desires of the American electorate as president?

PB: Well, like the President, I went to an Ivy League school, but, unlike the President, I live in a middle-class neighborhood and I’m a product of the American middle class. I think we need to come up with solutions that are going to work broadly for Americans across class lines, but with particular attention to supporting working Americans and promoting social mobility. We don’t have to be divided around these things; it’s just whether our leaders choose to divide us. And the irony is that many of these

values that have come up in recent debates could be unifying values. The idea of fairness, the idea of social mobility, the idea of patriotism, even, could be a unifying force if managed in the right way by a good president.

Many think that young people today are more likely to be critical of the United States than older generations are.

Do you believe America is exceptional, and, as president, how would you balance a positive outlook for the country with a recognition of its darker moments?

PB: I think America has always experienced the struggle between our ideals and our reality. I think the important thing is to insist that our ideals are good ones and demand that we’ve come nearer to living them out.

The ideals, for example, spelled out in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are ones that we can all rally around. It’s just that they haven’t actually been available to many Americans. And it’s not a

question of whether America is good or bad, it’s a question of how good we can make America.

In your talk, you mentioned a few issues that you believe are the biggest ones facing the country. Is there an issue you pinpoint as being the most important facing the next generation, specifically? If elected, how would you address it?

PB: Well, I think the longer you’re planning to be here the more you have to lose from climate change, so that’s something that looms larger, especially from a generational perspective. I also think that younger Americans have a lot at stake in this question of deficits and the debt.

It’s not something Democrats talk about as much, but it’s something we need to act on, and I would argue that most of the problems have been created by irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthiest.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Training moved to BEMA, leaders cite history of Gilman Island FROM TRIPS PAGE 1

included the n-word.

“Using this slur as the name of a location dehumanizes, marginalizes, and otherwise harms the Black families that resided there,” the email, signed by Maddy Waters ’19, Dorothy Qu ’19 and the Trips 2019 Directorate, stated. The email later asserted that the renaming of the island to Gilman Island serves to erase the history of its former inhabitants.

According to records in Rauner reviewed by The Dartmouth, the name was changed in 1969 by the New Hampshire state legislature.

Dartmouth had leased land on the island from the New England Power Company for use by the Ledyard Canoe Club starting in 1950.

Because of the discovery of the old name, the email stated, trip leader training would be moved to the Bema.

“We also could not in good conscience ask volunteers to stay on the island knowing that it represents firstly a history of marginalization and harm and secondly the ongoing disregard of those experiences from the narrative of our wider community,” the email stated.

QutoldTheDartmouththatamajor concern was the disproportionate impact, “especially those who may already feel alienated in the Trips setting and at Dartmouth.” She also said that the decision to use the Bema instead of Gilman Island was made after “many” internal meetings of the Trips directorate, and that the change likely improved aspects of the trip leader trainings.

“The Bema is really close, and it’s walking-distance [from campus], and also accessible in case a medical emergency came up,” Qu said. “It made people feel safer, people got way more sleep and it was easier to relocate to a rain spot if it did rain. Logistically speaking, it made awesome sense.”

Qu indicated that Gilman Island is not off-limits for future DOC activities.

“It’s not us saying, ‘Oh, because this place had a bad history, we can never use it again, or no one else can use it,’” she said. “It’s more like, if we don’t acknowledge it in the right

way — and you can’t acknowledge it correctly if you don’t have the right information — then it’s unfair to have the burden on students who would be affected by it.”

Trips saw a variety of other changes this year, including a new trip, additional programming and sustainability efforts.

The newly-added trip, “Exploring the Upper Valley,” is designed to be wheelchair-accessible as well as “accommodating for students who are less comfortable in remote outdoors settings, whether their reasons are medical or personal,” according to a DOC memo provided to The Dartmouth by Qu. “It basically is a way to engage with the community here,” Qu said of the trip, which visits Quechee, VT, the Shattuck Observatory and other locations in the Upper Valley.

Trips sustainability coordinator Hanover Vale ’20 noted another change: the provision of hair care products in Hanover and at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, a joint venture with the Office of Pluralism and Leadership and the Student Wellness Center.

“The point was to offer products for people with natural hair to protect it as they went on their trips,” Vale said, noting that students were offered both after the 50-yard swim test and upon arrival at Moosilauke. “There are specific products that are used to nourish the hair, protect it from the elements outside and restore some life after potentially getting your hair care ruined if you’re swimming.”

She added that, at the Lodge, there were also shea moisture products that would restore curls, something she would have appreciated on her trip. “ Fro m my o w n p e r s o n a l experiences, I was about to go back into the town, back to run my errands, and I was looking like a disaster and wearing my hat,” she said. “I just think [providing hair products] was a really important, small thing.”

Compost from the Lodge was taken to Sweetland Farm in Norwich, VT instead of a Lebanon, NH landfill, according to Vale, a change from previous years.

New programming at the Lodge

included an optional nature walk during free time at the Lodge and alternatives to the ghost story activities, the late-night dance party and the “sunrike,” a seven-mile sunrise hike that involves summiting Mount Moosilauke, according to Lodj Croo captains Katie Carithers ’20 and Sophie Smith ’20.

Instead of only having the opportunity to do the sunrike, ’23s had the option to engage in a “sunsight,” which involved students watching the sunrise from their sleeping bags on the Lodge’s leach field.

“A lot of people were really excited about that,” Smith said.

The alternative to the ghost story was a presentation about the Orozco murals put on in partnership with the Hood Museum of Art. “It was really great to see so many first-years analyzing art and talking about academia critically,” Qu said, adding that “not everyone wants to listen to a scary story at night in the middle of nowhere.”

The late-night dance party took

SYDNEY GILMAN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The Trips program saw a number of changes this fall.

place at the same time as a stargazing event, also located on the leach field.

The sunrike also saw additional security measures, including keeping track of every student who went on the hike.

This year, trip leaders were required to highlight their trippees’ names on a form when they left for the hike and initial upon their return.

The main reason for changing

the sunrike protocol was the twoday disappearance of Arun Hari Anand ’19 on Mount Moosilauke last spring. Anand had been separated from his group during a Collegesponsored hike and was found during an extensive search-and-rescue operation.

Dorothy Qu is a member of The Dartmouth staff.

PAGE 4

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD

Opinion Asks: U.S. Immigration Policy

Verbum Ultimum: A House Divided

Are Trump’s anti-immigration policies burdening students unnecessarily?

On Sept. 5, a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint was operated near Dartmouth’s campus on I-89. In late August, Ismail Ajjawi, a Palestinian student from Lebanon, arrived in Boston to attend Harvard University, and the New York Times reported that he was turned away by a CBP agent. The Dartmouth Opinion Staff responded.

Are Trump’s anti-immigration policies burdening students unnecessarily? Or is it a symptom of effective enforcement?

An immigration system that instills fear into students who are simply trying to attend classes, that aggressively detains and hostilely interrogates 17-year-olds — is a broken immigration system. But we didn’t need the CBP checkpoint or Ismail Ajjawi’s detainment to know that the Trump administration has uncompromising anti-immigrant views; just look at the wealth of information about travesties occurring at the border and inhumane treatment being imposed on vulnerable people. Dehumanizing treatment of immigrants in the country has accelerated, so it’s surprising that those who claim to embrace immigrants haven’t strengthened their support and efforts in response. University administrations seem to think that public letters to the Trump administration are sufficient, but they must be proactive in helping students. This includes arranging and funding alternative travel routes, putting undocumented and international students in touch with effective and accessible resources and declaring Dartmouth a sanctuary campus.

Undocumented students deal with everything from mere hassles to legitimate threats everyday, whether or not there’s a headline about it in The Dartmouth

DEBORA HYEMIN HAN, Editor-in-Chief

or The New York Times. It’s time that efforts to help them graduate from sporadic outpourings of support to long-term committed projects.

-Raniyan Zaman ’22 Whatever excuses are made about the “necessity” of the presence of these checkpoints and the broader activity of ICE and Border Patrol enforcement, the fact remains that what it amounts to in reality is open intimidation. For a country that prides itself so much on a commitment to liberty, it’s telling that the way its power manifests is little more than thuggishness, backed up with the threat of state violence. It is both intellectually and ethically dishonest to pretend there’s any moral equivalence between opposition to this country’s immigrant detention policies and a willingness to excuse atrocities in the name of meaningless platitudes about “security.” The more difficult question, and the one members of the Dartmouth community need to find an answer to, is why it takes CBP’s presence on the Ivy League’s doorstep to get our attention.

-Sajid Ahsan ’20 I went to Walmart today with another international friend today, and the fact that I had to make sure I had my passport and the photos of many important documents with me made me very uncomfortable. America pledges to be hospitable to its international students, yet this fear of being unnecessarily interrogated on your way to Walmart definitely doesn’t add up.

-Ezgi Okutan ’22 Raniyan Zaman is a board member of Coalition for Immigration Reform and Equality at Dartmouth (CoFIRED) but wrote this independently.

AIDAN SHEINBERG, Publisher

ALEX FREDMAN, Executive Editor PETER CHARALAMBOUS, Managing Editor

ANTHONY ROBLES, Managing Editor

PRODUCTION EDITORS CAROLINE COOK & EOWYN PAK, Opinion Editors

BUSINESS DIRECTORS JONNY FRIED & RAIDEN MEYER, Advertising & Finance Directors

KYLEE SIBILIA, Mirror Editor LILI STERN & BAILY DEETER, Sports Editors LEX KANG & LAUREN SEGAL, Arts Editors DIVYA KOPALLE, Photo Editor SAMANTHA BURACK & BELLA JACOBY, Design Editors

HIMADRI NARASIMHAMURTHY & KAI SHERWIN, Business Development Directors ALBERT CHEN & ELEANOR NIEDERMAYER, Strategy Directors VINAY REDDY & ERIC ZHANG, Marketing, Analytics and Technology Directors

HATTIE NEWTON, Templating Editor JESS CAMPANILE, Multimedia Editor ELIZA JANE SCHAEFFER, Engagement Editor

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.

The new housing policy is the wrong solution to the problem.

This past Saturday, the College restricted students’ access to buildings only within their own House communities. The College said the policy change came in response to the number of “racial bias incidents” that occurred last October, characterizing the policy as a security measure.

However, requiring students to be confined to arbitrary — and currently, unequal — groups like House communities does little to address the underlying problem. Students could, in fact, be racist to people within their own House communities.

Students with a motive could still enter buildings outside their House communities and continue to perpetuate acts of racial bias against community members.

Moreover, even if the College could confidently say that this change would make it more difficult for acts of racial bias to be taken, the policy’s downstream effects ultimately outweigh its potential benefits. Putting up structures that will perpetuate division and unequal access to housing and resources under the pretense of addressing latent racial bias on campus is an artificial response to the problem. This policy change presents practical issues in prescribing uses for spaces: no longer will the Cube function as a space for study groups, and its snack bar will not be accessible to the majority of students. Social life will be forced to change as well, with additional hassles for visiting close friends or significant others.

Indeed, what has been missing from Dartmouth’s addressing of the bias incidents thus far is any clear indication that such acts will not be tolerated. If this new policy change is related to racial bias incidents as claimed, then language stronger than “safety and flexibility concerns,” as used in dean of residential life Mike Wooten’s email, may be warranted. Clear statements condemning acts of racial bias from members of the upper administration — many of whom were noticeably silent about the October 2018 racial bias incidents — and policy changes to match have yet to come to the community.

There is a national question of how to address racism and who is responsible for inciting or perpetuating it. Dartmouth, as an institution of prominence, helps answer that question through its actions or lack thereof. Unfortunately, a “solution” like limiting access to residence halls acts as a metaphorical band-aid and a performative solution that permits tensions to continue to grow.

The need for real solutions exists not only at Dartmouth but also on campuses across the country.

Campus hate crimes increased by 40 percent between 2011 and 2016 and, since 2018, at least 434 incidents of the circulation of white supremacist materials were documented. Campus climates are

changing, and they are, across the board, rapidly trending toward isolation rather than community.

The College need not aid in this process by physically dividing students.

But these trends are still evidence that campus cultures fluctuate, and that gives them the capacity to change for the better as well.

If the housing policy is truly about addressing racial bias, Dartmouth now has an opportunity to engage in a larger conversation about how to handle its past and present with care and respect. Other universities have confronted issues regarding race by making high-level changes that send a message about the nature of the institution itself. For example, admissions tours at Rutgers University weave in the institution’s history of slavery, and, in 2017, the school renamed a prominent walkway after a slave who helped construct the foundations of its buildings. These kinds of changes not only seek to address racism in a more systemic way but also send a signal to members of the community that the institution will not tolerate racial bias — not in its past and not in its present.

That’s why the difference between Dartmouth and Rutgers’ approaches to the issue is important: At Dartmouth, our new policy, as it stands, drives community apart and isolates, while at Rutgers, their policy educates and includes.

The current pushback against the housing policy should not be construed as a lack of willingness to participate in actions to address racist acts at the College. The Editorial Board believes that real solutions, even if they require sacrifice on students’ part, would be accepted by members of the community — this new policy, however, is the wrong solution to the problem.

Perhaps at Dartmouth, it won’t be the renaming of a sidewalk. Perhaps the community could settle on something more appropriate to this space and these grounds. Students and administrators, working together, should be able to muster some other solution to the problem of racial bias on campus, past and present.

Ultimately, Dartmouth is charged with sending some of the nation’s most privileged students into the world where they will rise to positions of power and influence. Because of this, it is all the more Dartmouth’s responsibility to make clear that acts of racial bias will not be accommodated or tolerated — to change the way students operate and think, if some here are racist, and to change the way students react, if the rest of the community remains complicit. Not just for every student involved and future students to come, but also as an example to those who are watching — our actions are noticed whether we realize it or not.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Coffin talks admissions process, growth in first-gen population Coffin said that his role as dean is to take a “macro” view of the Each staff member presents the class and determine whether there applications of note within their is a balance between geographic larger applicant pool. locations, gender identity, racial, “It’s like a jury: You’re presenting ethnic, religious and other identifiers, the evidence that your applicants have asking certain readers for more of one shared, and the rest of us are listening type of candidate or letting readers without having read that particular know when a certain part of the class student,” Coffin said. is “full,” such as students interested Coffin said that during the in the STEM field. committee stage, the staff members Coffin said he often asks himself are focused on and the committees, the “shaping” “What voice does this “There is a of the class and person bring to this trying to form a tremendous community?” He “heterogeneous” amount of empathy, says that if the voice community. The is underrepresented, members of the bias checking, they elevate the committees shift conversation.” application, in order throughout the to create a class with process in order a diversity of views. to expose staff -ISABEL BOBER ’04, Bober said that m e m b e r s t o SENIOR ASSOCIATE although test scores applicants from and grades are what various global DIRECTOR OF many people focus zones.

ADMISSIONS on with regards to Bober noted admissions, 80 to that bringing 90 percent of the applicants to the committee stage applicant pool has data that indicate ensures many points of view on a that they would be academically candidate. prepared for Dartmouth. Coffin “There is a tremendous amount of agreed, and noted that standardized empathy, bias checking, conversation,” tests are used largely for the purpose Bober said. “These are decisions we of contextualizing grades across high come to jointly, because the way that schools.

I interact with a piece of writing [in But Bober and Coffin both noted an application] can be different than that they look past the data for [that of a colleague].” students who want to think outside At the end of March, the the box and embrace change. Bober committees present Coffin with a said these are good skills, not only for group of recommended applications. navigating a liberal arts institution, Coffin and a senior committee of but also the rest of a student’s life. about eight staff members review Some of the qualities they look for these applications to finalize the list in applicants come from discussions and organize the applicants into with faculty members about what an admitted group and a waitlisted kind of students are successful at group.

Dartmouth.

“At this level, the line between the “People can get an A without being admit group and the waitlist is fuzzy,” curious, and when curiosity is there, Coffin said. “And … the line between it animates the classroom in a really the people who didn’t get in and the powerful way,” Coffin said. waitlist is fuzzy.”

Coffin added that a student’s Coffin expressed that there are voice comes across best in the many challenges in culling down such application’s supplement questions, a large pool of qualified applicants which help gauge qualities like at such a small school as compared kindness, willingness to try new to others in the Ivy League, calling things and curiosity, and that the peer the process “humbling.” recommendation is also a valuable FROM ADMISSIONS PAGE 1

and unique part of the Dartmouth application.

This entire process yields not only the newest class of Dartmouth students but also a flurry of admissions numbers. While these numbers fail to fully describe the holistic nature of the admissions, they do offer insights into the admissions process and outcomes.

Of the 1,193 members of the Class of 2023, students hailed from all 50 states, Coffin said, with the largest portion — 11 percent — coming from California. A total of 41 percent of students come from either the West Coast or the South of the United States. Twelve percent of students live outside of the United States, hailing from 51 different countries, according to Coffin. Coffin added that 210 students are recruited athletes, 17.6 percent of the Class of 2023.

Additionally, 42 percent of United States citizens are people of color and 25 native tribe and indigenous communities are represented among the freshman class, according to Coffin.

Coffin said he was especially proud of the 15 percent of the Class of 2023 who are the first in their families to attend College, having increased from around 140 students last year to around 180 students this year.

Eighteen percent of the class comes from low-income families, meaning they are either eligible for the federal Pell Grant, part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or international students with an equivalent financial background, according to director of financial aid Dino Koff.

Koff noted that 45 percent of

the class is on scholarship and 52 percent will receive aid of some kind, including loans. He said that about half of international students will receive financial aid. The ’23s will receive a record total of $29.5 million in aid, though this number may rise as the class settles in. This is up from last year’s $27.8 million total.

Coffin said he was pleased with this year’s expansion of first-generation and lower-income students, and said he would continue to work to expand the portion of the class hailing from low- and middle-income backgrounds. He also said the office is increasingly reaching out to new areas of the United States and the world, focusing on places with growing populations that have not been historically emphasized in the recruitment process.

Project goals include energy efficiency FROM CONSTRUCTION PAGE 1

to the West End district, including the expansion of the Thayer School of Engineering.

“The big drive [behind this project] was energy efficiency,” said Patrick O’Hern who, as the College’s Capital Renewal Program manager, determines the College’s infrastructure maintenance needs.

“The age of the steam system [makes it require] more and more maintenance, so it would be better to get in the ground and not have to rely on the aging steam infrastructure.”

When the North-West Utility Expansion Project is completed, there will be no need to install new steam equipment in the new Thayer buildings, and the distribution of hot water will be more efficient in retaining the greatest amount of heat transmitted to buildings, according to O’Hern.

Despite the future benefits it offers, the construction has caused pedestrian detours and traffic surrounding Maynard Street, North Main Street and Tuck Mall.

Students who need to take the Advanced Transit bus at Webster

Ave. and Carson Hall must go to Steele Hall or Wentworth Hall, according to signs posted near the temporary-defunct bus stop. Soon, the entrance of the McLaughlin Cluster will be blocked and students will need to find other ways to enter and leave Berry and Byrne II, according to O’Hern.

Students have taken notice of the construction and its effects. Tina Li ’20, who lives near the construction site, said that it has caused her a daily inconvenience, while Yifan He ’20 said that the construction confused her when she returned to campus because she had not known it was about to occur.

The installation of pipes will be complete by the end of fall term.

When students return to campus in the winter, the temporary fences will be removed and the currently blocked streets will be unobstructed, according to O’Hern. The water distribution itself is expected to start in March 2020.

In addition to the North-West Utility Expansion Project, the Turner Construction Co. is continuing its work on the West End district.

Construction had been temporarily

halted in July when a 70-foot hole, meant to serve as a foundation of a parking lot and new building, was placed 10 feet south of the intended location. Dartmouth obtained approval over the summer from the Hanover Planning Board to keep and build upon the misplaced hole. The continued construction adds traffic when entering Hanover from W. Wheelock Drive and creates noise pollution for students, including those living in the River Cluster.

The construction has led to disruption around the town, according to Hanover director of planning, zoning and codes Robert Houseman. However, Houseman believes that the long term benefits are worth the current inconveniences and cited the West End expansion project as a good example of the town-college partnership between Dartmouth and Hanover.

“When the project is complete, it is a win-win set up improvement,” Houseman said. “We will gain safety improvements … [and] partner with Dartmouth to build the sidewalk on West St. Dartmouth designs and funds.”

PAGE 6

DARTMOUTHEVENTS

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

RACISM SOLVED!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

LAMEES KAREEM ’22

TODAY 10:00am – 2:00pm

Fair: Internship, Job and Law School Fair, sponsored by the Center for Professional Development, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Alumni Hall.

3:30pm – 4:30pm

Lecture: “How to Construct a Quantum Computer,” by Duke University professor Kenneth Brown, sponsored by the Department of Physics, Wilder, Room 104.

4:00pm – 5:00pm

Lecture: “Probing the Mechanisms of Episodic Memory at the SingleNeuron Level in Humans,” by Dr. Ueli Rutishauser, sponsored by the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Moore, Room B03.

8:00pm – 10:00pm

Viewing: “Public Astronomical Observing,” sponsored by the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shattuck Observatory.

TOMORROW 9:30am – 4:00pm

Symposium: “Evolutionary Medicine,” sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, Life Sciences Center, Room 100.

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

PAGE 7

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

Review: Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’ tells stories of love and loss B y MIA NELSON

The Dartmouth Staff

Taylor Swift. The name of one of America’s most successful musicians conjures up images of cowgirl boots, sparkly dresses, Twitter feuds and boyfriends. Often the mere mention of Swift induces a chorus of eyerolls or sighs of disgust. Very rarely do conversations about Swift mention her enormous success as a musician, including the fact that her most recent album “Lover” became 2019’s best-selling record in just a week. A common critique I hear of Swift’s work is that her music is too sophomoric, too girly and hyper-focused on relationships — according to Swift in a recent Rolling Stone article, the media has long since decided she was a “a boy-crazy man-eater.” And it’s true to a certain extent; the success of “Lover” demonstrates that Swift’s strength is highly rooted in her ability to write and compose songs based on love.

The title of “Lover” brings to mind romantic relationships, but the content of the album explores varying types of affection.

“It’s Nice to Have a Friend” explores a friendship that goes from elementary-aged (“School bell rings, walk me home/Sidewalk chalk covered in snow”) to adolescence (“Sun sinks down, no curfew”) to adulthood (“Church bells ring”).

“Soon You’ll Get Better” is about an ailing loved one. “ME!” is about self-love.The album title as well as its contents demonstrate to me that Swift is owning her reputation as love-lorn and unapologetically admitting to her public persona.

Swift, who has been long embroiled in various public feuds and breakups, seems to be wearing a scarlet “A” in

“Lover” — Swift loves and loves hard, and she is embracing that now more than ever.

Another way “Lover” represents a new Swift is in the simplicity of her songs. Many of the tracks demonstrate a stark contrast from Swift’s 2017 album “reputation,” which was bombastic and highly orchestrated — even convoluted at times. Where “reputation” relied heavily on shock value, “Lover” uses more simple, bare bones storytelling and musical accompaniment. I see “Lover” as a direct descendant of Swift’s best song on “reputation,” the stripped down “New Year’s Day.” “It’s Nice To Have a Friend” is similarly sweet, with whispery vocals from Swift and a simple, chiming background. The lyrics “You’ve been stressed out lately, yeah, me too/Something gave you the nerve/To touch my hand” evoke a simple, yet sweeping image in the listener reminiscent of the “New Year’s Day” lyric “There’s glitter on the floor after the party/Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby.” Even the infectiously fun “Paper Rings” shows evidence of a cleaner song writing technique for Swift with the line, “I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings.” Gone is the Swift of endlessly detailed storylines, as in her 2010 album “Speak Now” which contained the near seven minute-long song “Dear John.” In her stead is a Swift comfortable enough in her own evocative details to leave her songs un-belabored with novel-esque character development and exhaustive storylines.

Swift’s stripped-down album reinforces what she said in her Rolling Stone interview, “I used to be like a golden retriever … now, I guess, I have to be a little bit more

like a fox.” She is certainly giving her audience less to digest, but that doesn’t mean what is left is any less intimate. In one of my favorite songs, “I Think He Knows,” Swift details just exactly what turns her on: “I think he knows his hands around a cold glass/Make me wanna know that/Body like it’s mine.” “Cornelia Street” also leans on personal moments but uses such an adroit hand that the lyrics sound more like a really good poem than a song: “Windows swung right open, autumn air/Jacket ’round my shoulders is yours/We bless the rains on Cornelia Street/Memorize the creaks in the floor.”

Such autobiographical details are reminiscent of old-school Swift but thrown in without the excessive explanation I have come to expect from her. Her songs have always been confessional, but these lesscluttered lyrics make me believe her more. The less Swift hits me on the head with her stories, the more I see myself in the details. Nearing the end of “Cornelia Street” Swift sings, “I’d never walk Cornelia Street again,” insinuating that if the person she walks down Cornelia Street with ever leaves her, she’d never be able to go back to the places they loved. Simply, Swift is telling us that she loves someone so fully in the world that it would be hard to move through it without them. It is easy to superimpose oneself in these lyrics, as likely most people have a Cornelia Street of their own — I know I do.

As successful as I find most of this album, she slips in the songs where she does too much. In “ME!” with Brandon Urie, Swift sounds like a crazy caricature of herself, with juvenile lines such as “Hey, kids!/ Spelling is fun!/Girl, there ain’t no

I in “team”/But you know there is a ‘me.’” Similar pitfalls exist in “You Need To Calm Down” with lines as odd and seemingly parody such as, “But I’ve learned a lesson that stressin’ and obsessin’ ‘bout/ somebody else is no fun/And snakes and stones never broke my bones.” In both, Swift is trying to do too much. “ME!” sounds like what store-bought birthday cake tastes like (overly sweet and stomach sickening) and “You Need To Calm Down” made me laugh out loud with its weirdly political line, “And control your urges to scream about all the people you hate/ ‘Cause shade never made anybody less gay.” Swift, it is clear in both of these ridiculous songs, should stick to what she knows — because nothing sounds more discordant than a singer reaching beyond her skill set.

I applaud Swift for (mostly) doing what she is exceptionally, and even

uniquely, good at — telling stories that make listeners hear themselves in love and loss. This strength of hers was intensified by leaning into simplicity. “Lover” her seventh album, will presumably continue to get Swift flack about her subject matter, but it is that same subject matter that makes Swift so wildly successful. According to Forbes, “Lover” debuted on top of the Billboard 200, pre-sold more album copies than any other in the history of album sales at Target and is the most successful Amazon music launch, breaking global records.

In “The Archer,” Swift sings, “I’ve been the archer/I’ve been the prey,” owning up to her occasional America’s sweetheart/America’s villain image in the media. She’s polarizing, clearly. But it’s also pretty clear that whoever Swift is — sweetheart, villain, archer, prey — she will sell albums. And what’s not to love about that?

AN AUTUMNAL HARVEST

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The farmer’s market brings fresh produce to the Green.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS

PAGE 8

SPORTS SPORTS

Cole Sulser ’12 gets called up to play for the Tampa Bay Rays

B y eric vaughn

The Dartmouth Staff

Cole Sulser ’12, the 29-year-old former Dartmouth right-handed pitcher, was called up to the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball after a seven-year stint in the minor leagues. He played his first game on Sept. 2 and through six solid games, has made his case to be on the team’s potential playoff roster.

Sulser joins fellow classmate Kyle Hendricks ’12 as standout pitchers who made it to the major leagues, exemplifying Dartmouth’s ability to develop players that can succeed at the next level.

Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen said he was extremely excited to see Sulser fulfill his lifelong dream.

“Everybody that has ever recruited him, coached him, played with him, is just happy for him because he’s entirely deserving of this opportunity,” Whalen said. “He’s passionate about baseball, and he’s passionate about school. He just did everything right — he’s not just a talented player, he’s also a great teammate. Everyone respected him, and he always put the team and program first.”

Sulser showed immense potential at Dartmouth and throughout his seven years in the minors building up to this moment. Sulser, who is originally from Santa Ysabel, CA, had a fantastic career donning the green and white. He was a part of two Ivy League championship teams and held a stellar individual record of 20-6, including a remarkable 8-0 sophomore campaign. Sulser also averaged nearly a strikeout per inning and a 1.18 WHIP, earning All-Ivy honors three times, including making the first team his junior year.

Sulser’s road to the MLB has

been anything but easy after he was selected by Cleveland Indians in the 25th round of the draft. Sulser had to overcome two Tommy John surgeries, one during his senior year of college and another which forced him to miss the entire 2015 season after pitching in the last game of the previous season on short rest. His road to the MLB was even tougher than most fans would anticipate, Whalen said.

“I don’t think people really know how tough it is to move to the MLB,” Whalen said. “There’s so much that goes into that life. Very few people would have the perseverance — particularly with a Dartmouth engineering degree — to say, you know, I’m going to stick with it.”

For the most recent season, Sulser pitched for the Triple-A International League’s Durham Bulls for the Rays after he was traded previously that year by the Indians. He thrived with a 3.27 ERA and held opposing batters to just a .208 batting average. Once again, his command was one of his strong suits, as he had a nearly fourto-one strikeout to walk ratio.

“Sulser combined great arm strength and velocity with command,” Whalen said. “He for the most part could put the ball where he wanted it to go, particularly with his slider and his fastball. His numbers were crazy.”

With his debut in September, Sulser became just the third player from Dartmouth this decade to play in the MLB and the 31st Big Green alumnus to make it to the big show.

Hendricks and Ed Lucas ’04 are the only two other Dartmouth alums this decade, putting Sulser in rare company.

Sulser’s debut is a testament to Dartmouth’s success as a program in developing talent, especially

pitching. In addition to these three players, Dartmouth boasts alums such as Los Angeles Angels manager Brad Ausmus ’91 and Jimmie Lee Solomon ’78, who used to serve as the executive vice president of baseball operations and was described by Black Enterprise Magazine as “one of the most influential AfricanAmericans in the business of sports.”

Former players also include four-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion Red Rolfe ’31 as well as Pete Broberg ’72, Jim Beattie ’76, Mike Remlinger ’88 and Mark Johnson ’90.

Before his debut, Sulser tried to not let the gravity of the moment affect him.

“I was just trying not to get too emotional in the moment,” Sulser said to the Tampa Bay Times. “It

was awesome having everyone from the team come up and tell me congratulations.”

Sulser is not the only Dartmouth alum in his family with aspirations to play in the MLB. Beau Sulser ’17 was the former Ivy League Pitcher of the Year and was drafted in the 10th round of the MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and is currently in Double-A. Since his debut, Sulser has been solid in limited playing time. Sulser has played in six games and pitched in 6.1 scoreless innings. He’s only surrendered five hits and has only walked two batters, striking out seven as well.

Additionally, Sulser has improved with each outing. In his past four games, he allowed three hits and combined for six strikeouts through

4.1 innings.

Sulser’s debut and Dartmouth’s success overall professionally has made a great impact, even on the current players. Starting pitcher Justin Murray ’22 said that pitchers like Sulser are great role models for everyone on the team.

“Being a part of this program, it’s fun to follow the success of former players and it pushes us to work hard to hopefully reach that level someday,” Murray said. “It’s clear that Sulser has worked very hard over the last couple of years, and I hope to see him continue to succeed.”

The team hopes to use Sulser’s and other alums’ success in the MLB as motivation this year to continuously improve themselves and sustain Dartmouth’s success on the national stage.

RICHARD LEWIS/COURTESY OF THE DARTMOUTH ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT

Cole Sulser ’12, a standout pitcher for the Big Green, was called up to the big leagues in time for the postseason.