VOL. CLXXV NO.73
SHOWERS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Lawsuit alleges wrongful expulsion
REFLECTING ON THE FALL
HIGH 54 LOW 50
By Elizabeth Janowski The Dartmouth
SARAH HALPERT/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
After a chilly, rainy day, Baker Tower is reflected in puddles around campus.
OPINION
LI SHEN: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN PAGE 4
PARK: KAVA NO MORE PAGE 4
ARTS
REVIEW: ‘A STAR IS BORN’ IS A SPARKLING, DEVASTATING LOVE STORY PAGE 7
‘BLIND CINEMA’ OFFERS NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR ADULT AUDIENCES PAGE 8 FOLLOW US ON
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Zeller discusses tobacco use B y Anne George The Dartmouth
“We are all playing catch-up with the tobacco industry — the regulators, general public, other policy makers and media,” director of the Food and Drug Administration’s C e n t e r f o r To b a c c o Products Mitchell Zeller ’79 said in his Sept. 28 talk on tobacco in today’s
America. “These are extremely smart people, and they have a 75- to 100-year head start on regulation.” In the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute sponsored lecture called “A m e r i c a ’s To b a c c o S t r u g g l e : Wi n s a n d Losses,” Zeller discussed the FDA’s recent efforts to reduce tobacco usage. He spoke to around 20
Digital cloud to protect materials B y Anthony Robles The Dartmouth Staff
Materials at the Rauner Special Collections Library will now have a permanent home in the cloud. The Dartmouth College Library recently announced that it will be using Preservica, a cloud-based preservation system, to protect and store digital materials currently housed in Rauner. “Some of the materials are
important research materials that students at Dartmouth, faculty at Dartmouth or even researchers around the world might be interested in, so we’re stewards of that kind of material to make sure that the global scholarly community has the ability to do research,” said associate librarian for digital strategies Daniel Chamberlain. “In this particular context, we also want to make sure SEE PRESERVICA PAGE 3
people in the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and t h e S o c i a l S c i e n c e s, exploring the tobacco industry’s traditionally antagonistic relationship with regulation and what is being done today to remedy that. A f t e r w o rk i n g o n various FDA issues for SEE TOBACCO PAGE 5
On Aug. 6, a former Dartmouth student filed a lawsuit against the College, alleging that he was wrongfully expelled last September following unfair disciplinary hearing procedures that breached the College’s contractual obligations to him and violated his Title IX rights. He is seeking the reversal of the College’s decision, reinstatement at the College, the expungement of his record and monetary compensation for financial and emotional damages. Prior to his expulsion, the student had expected to graduate in spring 2018. According to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Dartmouth, the College’s decision last year came after a series of incidents in which the student, who filed the complaint under the pseudonym John Doe, allegedly threatened a female student with whom he used to be in a relationship. The female student, referred to as Sally Smith, attended a university
outside of the state of New Hampshire. In March 2017, according to the lawsuit, Smith submitted a report composed of messages from Doe to her university’s police department and was granted a restraining order against him. The university’s police department forwarded the report to Dartmouth’s Ju d i c i a l A f f a i r s O f f i c e, which determined that it was unnecessary to initiate further disciplinary action against Doe at the time, the lawsuit says. Doe sent a message to Smith and her mother in May 2017, prompting Smith’s mother to notify the police that Doe had violated the restraining order, according t o t h e l aw s u i t . H e w a s subsequently arrested by the Hanover police department, though he was later found not guilty in court of violating the order, the suit says. The complaint says that JAO assistant director Adam Knowlton-Young notified SEE LAWSUIT PAGE 2
Study links arthritis to depression
B y Berit Svenson The Dartmouth Staff
Arthritis in older adults may be linked to higher incidence of depression in these individuals. A recent study by a team of researchers from Cornell University, Dartmouth and the University of Michigan found a significant association between arthritis and varying degrees of depression in older adults. “This really shows that mental and physical health conditions are interrelated,” said Courtney Polenick, a contributing researcher to the study and lifespan
developmental psychologist at the Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging. “It suggests the importance of screening for and treating arthritis and depression.” Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey collected from 2011 to 2014, the research team’s primary objective was to better understand arthritis rates among older adults in the U.S. who struggle with depression, according to Jessica Brooks, lead researcher and former postdoctoral research fellow at the Geisel School of Medicine. After analyzing the
collected data using weighted logistic regression models, the researchers found that a significant correlation existed between moderate depression and arthritis in older adults. The association persisted for both minor and severe depression, according to the study. Because of the correlation between arthritis and depression found in the study, Polenick added that she believes integrated treatments should be introduced to look at what can be done to improve both conditions simultaneously. SEE ARTHRITIS PAGE 3
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Student alleges College violated two standards of conduct FROM LAWSUIT PAGE 1
Doe that the College was alleging him of violating two standards of conduct in the Dartmouth Student Handbook — Standard of Conduct II, which relates to behavior that threatens the safety of others, and Standard of Conduct VI, which relates to conduct that violates laws of local, state, federal or foreign jurisdictions. A t a h e a r i n g b e fo re t h e Committee on Standards on Sept. 21, 2017, the COS expelled Doe, using information in the report Smith had filed in March as a basis for its decision, the lawsuit alleges. According to Doe’s complaint, COS chair Daniel Nelson wrote in the official finding report that he and the other committee members cited Doe’s “inability to take responsibility for his actions and his lack of awareness of the significance of his actions and their impact on others” as principal reasons for his expulsion, based on information in the March 2017 report. Doe alleges the College violated his right to due process by failing to address the two allegations he was given written notice of prior
to the hearing, instead sanctioning and contradictory explanations for him based on the sanction. h i s o b s e r ve d “Despite his assertion In October failure to show 2017, Doe remorse for his that he accepted submitted an actions and on responsibility appeal of the Smith’s March COS’s sanctions and described his report, which on the grounds he claims he behavior as the ‘worst o f p ro c e d u r a l was made to thing’ he’d ever e r ro r. Fo r m e r believe had dean of the been reviewed done, the student’s College Rebecca and dismissed other statements led Biron upheld the several months COS’s decision, the Committee to earlier. asserting that no As D o e believe that he felt procedural error sought to appeal his actions during the had occurred the College’s and that Doe had d e c i s i o n i n period were justified, been provided t h e w e e k s and that [Smith], her notice of the following the the family and Dartmouth allegation, hearing, several suit alleges. members of the were to blame.” Doe claims that Dartmouth Biron’s verdict staff — was motivated i n c l u d i n g -ADAM KNOWLTONby biases against f o r m e r YOUNG, ASSISTANT h i s g e n d e r, associate referencing an DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE article she wrote general counsel Kevin O’Leary, OF JUDICIAL AFFAIRS in 2014 about Nelson and rape culture JAO director on college Katharine campuses, Strong — entitled “Behind allegedly offered Doe inconsistent Closed Doors: Rape, Murder,
and the Misplaced Confidence of Men.” According to Doe, Biron’s statements in the article are “highly inappropriate for an adjudicator” and indicative of her belief that men are “inherently violent.” Consequently, Doe raised an allegation of a Title IX violation in his complaint, stating that the disciplinary proceedings were marred by gender bias. Doe received a secondary appeal in January 2018, in which the suit alleges he attempted to present an 166-page report addressing a variety of subjects that Biron, O’Leary and Strong had all allegedly instructed him to raise to the COS before his hearing. According to Doe’s complaint, the COS purportedly excluded this information from their considerations. The decision to impose a sanction of expulsion upon Doe was upheld. Knowlton-Young authored the finding report for the second hearing, the suit says. “Despite his assertion that he accepted responsibility and described his behavior as the ‘worst thing’ he’d ever done, the student’s other statements led the Committee to believe that he felt his actions during the period were
justified, and that [Smith], her family and Dartmouth were to blame,” Knowlton-Young is said to have written in the report. “Under the circumstances, the panel expressed concern for the safety and security of the Dartmouth community if the student were to continue his education here.” In addition to charges of breach of contract and Title IX violations, Doe alleges the College breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, negligence, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, estoppel and reliance, unfair and deceptive trade practices, equitable relief in the form of a declaratory judgment, negligent training and supervision of employees, fraudulent misrepresentation and fraudulent concealment. Doe filed the complaint pro se, meaning without the assistance or representation of an attorney. Biron, Doe, College spokesperson Diana Lawrence, interim dean of the College Kathryn Lively and Title IX coordinator Kristi Clemens all declined requests for comment. Knowlton-Young, general counsel Sandhya Iyer and Strong could not be reached for comment.
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CORRECTIONS We welcome corrections. If you believe there is a factual error in a story, please email editor@thedartmouth.com.
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This week students picked kale and harvested squash as part of the Organic Farm P.E. class.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018
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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
College will use cloud-based system Study finds correlation between two illnesses FROM PRESERVICA PAGE 1
that we’re making it available to a broad audience, and the Preservica platform allows us to selectively do both of those things.” Digital collections and oral history archivist Caitlin Birch said that the library has not had a great way to store these materials in a manner that would ensure their protection for an extended period of time. Furthermore, she added that the library has not had an efficient manner in which to provide these materials to researchers in “the same way that we would a box of paper.” According to digital lifecycle librarian Jennifer Mullins, the main focus of the library staff has been to transfer material from Rauner to Preservica. However, she added that digital materials from other campus libraries will eventually be transferred and available for access through Preservica as well. “Rauner Special Collections does a great job at making materials available for students doing research or for classes, but sometimes you want to go back and look at materials — for materials that are being presented publicly through the Preservica platform,” Chamberlain said. “People will be able to access that when and where they need to.” Preservica was chosen after a two-year-long search conducted by Birch and a project team that first focused on identifying the needs of the library. Birch and her team created a “functional specification” –— a list of “every single thing that we could think of that we wanted the system to be able to accomplish.” “Once we had that, we started thinking about what the options were
to succeed on all of those needs,” Birch said. While the project team considered having a team of programmers who work at the library build the preservation system in-house, it also researched outside vendor options because of the small size of the programming team, Birch said. After meeting with representatives of various preservation systems and comparing these systems to the functional specification, Birch and her project team eventually selected Preservica. Birch noted that Preservica is used by governments because of its security features. She added that Preservica provides “redundant storage,” which means that copies of the digital files are kept in servers located in two different locations across the world. In the event that one of the servers is compromised, the digital file can still be accessed through the second server. Birch added that Preservica will allow the library staff to monitor the digital files over time and thus “act on” any signs of deterioration. She said that the new software will both allow the library to better connect its digital materials to its physical materials and ensure that researchers have access to said materials no matter their location around the world. According to Birch, Preservica also possesses “file migration” capabilities, which will allow files and documents saved on now-obsolete formats to be migrated to newer formats. Birch added that this aspect of Preservica would most likely be used in the future, as both technology and file formats continue to evolve. “These are the only copies of
this material that exists, and digital materials are pretty fragile,” Mullins said. “They have a lot of preservation challenges — file formats go out of style and become obsolete — so they need a lot of active management over time.” Birch, who oversees all of the digital-borne manuscripts in the library’s possession, said that dealing with digital materials was a “relatively new area” in the field of archiving. The material that Birch works with is primarily stored on floppy disks and old hard drives, or even entire computers, which she said requires her work to be a bit more “hands-on” because she has to extract data from now-obsolete media formats. “When you think about the kinds of things that archives tend to have, its old letters, diaries, journals — maybe drafts of things that people were working on during their lifetime,” Birch said. “All of that is no longer created on paper. It’s created on computers.” While Birch stressed the importance of storing these digital materials in the first place, she acknowledged that it is impossible to store everything and that the archivists are “being selective” about what to store in Preservica. The materials chosen to be stored in Preservica have been evaluated under the selection policy used by the College archives, she said. “This will be material that either documents some kind of historical aspect of the College, so it tells us what’s going on with teaching and learning and student life and the life of the College in general, or it’s documenting an area that is a particular focus of teaching and learning here,” Birch said.
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Even on rainy days, Dartmouth tour guides inform visitors and prospective students about the College.
understand pain in older adults with serious mental illnesses. “Depression and pain have always “We should be looking into what may be contributing to depression in been areas that I have studied,” Brooks this population, not just treating the said. “But when I was actually writing physical aspects of arthritis,” she said. up my proposal, I thought, ‘I don’t have According to Alexander Titus, who the answer to this question,’ so that’s holds a Ph.D. from Geisel’s Quantitative where the idea sparked.” She said she then reached out Biomedical Sciences program and to colleagues she conducted the had collaborated study’s statistical with on previous a n a l y s i s , t h i s “We should be projects, such as study is a key step looking into what Titus. toward improving may be contributing According to the care given to patients affected by to depression in this Titus, conducting research for both arthritis and population, not just this study was depression. Since the study used the treating the physical a p a r t i c u l a rl y rewarding National Health aspects of arthritis.” experience because an d Nutrition of the diverse Examination affiliations of each Survey, a free, -COURTNEY POLENICK, researcher involved. publicly available PSYCHOLOGIST “This is why I resource, Titus wanted to come noted that the to Dartmouth,” he research team was said. “To have the able to execute opportunity to work the study without on a team of people with various independent funding. “These studies can often become backgrounds.” Brooks added that she hopes to the foundation of grant applications that allow for additional research into conduct future studies on the rates of other chronic pain conditions in a topic,” Titus said. According to Brooks, the inception aging adults with varying degrees of of the study came about while she was depressive symptoms. “Unfortunately, the data especially doing geriatric mental health research during her post-doctoral fellowship at on prevalence rates is quite scarce for Dartmouth. She said she developed and various types of serious mental illness,” submitted a proposal to the National Brooks said. “Hopefully more people Institute of Mental Health to better will start paying attention.” FROM ARTHRITIS PAGE 1
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THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018
STAFF COLUMNIST SABRINA LI SHEN ‘21
GUEST COLUMNIST ANNIKA PARK ’18
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Kava-No-More
There is a fine line between fitting in and losing oneself.
Thanks to all of those freshman year icebreakers, I can drop a few fun facts about myself at a moment’s notice: I never really learned to tell my lefts from my rights, I’m allergic to apples and bananas, and I lived with my grandparents in China for three years. One year after I was born, I flew from Boston to Shanghai, where I stayed under the care of countless relatives spread across the biggest and brightest city I’ve ever seen. Almost all of my extended family lives in China, and I love every memory I’ve made there. I have been loud and proud of my heritage for a few years, but it hasn’t always been that way. In fact, sometimes it still feels like I’m trying too hard to disassociate myself from the community that raised me. As a child, I had two distinct groups of friends: friends from school and the children of my parents’ friends. My friends from school were all relatively homogenous in terms of socioeconomic status, religion, race and ethnicity. This isn’t too surprising, considering that I grew up in a wealthy, mostly white suburb of Boston. The children of my parents’ friends were also relatively homogenous in terms of socioeconomic status, religion, race and ethnicity, but that was because they were all American-born Chinese kids from the surrounding neighborhoods and towns. We were all of different ages and we didn’t have much in common other than our shared cultural identity and the all-Asian parties our parents forced us to go to. I remember I used to make fun of those parties to my friends at school. I acted as if the parties were weird because all the guests were of Asian descent, and I pretended like I was constantly bored and unable to connect with my fellow second-generation Asian-Americans, who were all “nerdy” and “lame” while I was the “cool” one with my “normal” group of white friends who played soccer and attended sleepaway summer camps instead of playing piano and attending summer math camps. Of course, these are all broad generalizations, but I was always embarrassed that I did, in fact, participate in so many of the activities stereotypical of the Asian-American child. On the other hand, I could talk about these activities freely with my Asian-American friends at our all-Asian parties. While our parents caught up with each other in their native tongues, my friends and I complained about our piano lessons and
outside-of-school math classes, but we were also free to gush about them. I never liked math, but I loved music, and I thought it was so cool that I could use my classical piano training to learn pop songs or even write my own songs. However, I would have never admitted that to my friends at school, because that would mean proving true the stereotypes from which I fought so hard to distance myself. There are many things to unpack here: internalized racism, the model minority myth, the pressures of cultural assimilation –– the list goes on. But this article, like most of my pieces, is about my ongoing journey to reconnect with the Asian part of my identity. In high school, I found the self-confidence that now plays a large part in defining who I am. My newfound self-confidence also helped me throw off some of the shame that had shrouded the way I talked about my Chinese heritage. During my senior year of high school, I created an independent study course to examine the complex relationships between Chinese and American conceptions of feminism, and I was a teaching assistant for a freshman history class while the students learned about the history of China. Over spring break, I flew from Boston to Shanghai again for the first time in years. I reconnected with relatives and rediscovered the city; I learned about the parts of Chinese history that never came up in my textbooks, and I found a thriving community of expats living in Shanghai. I loved my white-picket-fence childhood — I actually did play soccer (poorly), and I attended sleepaway summer camps where math was never mentioned, much to my pleasure. But I also loved my piano lessons and all-Asian parties where Chinese food filled the dinner table and the lyrical tones of Mandarin filled the air. To anyone out there who is currently struggling to reconcile these two parts of yourself — the part that follows a narrow conception of what it means to be American and who you have to be to fit in, and the part that is steeped with the tradition and culture of your parents — please remember that they are two sides of the same coin. There is no shame in being proud of where you came from, and there is certainly nothing that speaks more to the better nature of what it means to be American than the entwining of different threads of experience.
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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.
Women of Dartmouth, it’s time we got a bit angry. I own a cap that was passed down to me by male qualities of the school insubordinate its a sorority sister. Neatly sharpied on the inside of female attendees. For instance, there were so the brim, it says, “When you love an institution, many occasions where I felt had to live up to you should consistently question its value for my fellow male classmates and the standards of the sake of its own validity.” I was probably what they thought Dartmouth woman was or not allowed to keep this hat, but it somehow should be that I never realized I was complicit made its way with me to Washington D.C., a in their continued abuse of power by being city that I moved to less than six months ago. a bystander in their practice of privilege. I With the the controversy surrounding Christine am certain that this feminine experience is Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against not limited to just this institution. However, I Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh strongly believe that Dartmouth women, more happening right where I call home now, and so than any other group of women in the Ivy for many other reasons, I have not been able League, have historically felt a greater need to to get much sleep — nor this quote out of my live up to a standard that was, and may always head. be, inherently male. Kavanaugh and I do not have much Maybe that is the biggest effect Dartmouth in common, except had on me. For the longest for the fact that both “However, I cannot help time, I believed that anger of us attended Ivy but draw parallels from was not the answer, and League colleges. I am that as a woman, in order Kavanaugh’s band of a recent graduate of to get men to listen, I had Dartmouth, where I brothers to the men I to subvert from the “inside” studied government and knew during my time — because men never want education. I was a sister at Dartmouth, and the to listen to angry women. of Alpha Phi sorority and culture of ‘boys will be That is no longer the case. a member of the varsity boys’ that will remain so To all women, and especially men’s rowing team. I at Dartmouth, lest the old young women, who have had love my alma mater, like traditions fail.” the privilege of being part of so many Dartmouth a comfortable, self-selected graduates do — but that gathering of elites, being love does not, and should not, prevent me from angry is absolutely okay, and even necessary. challenging its flawed institutions. Our privilege does not make us insiders, and Watching the hearings from Thursday we must stop fooling ourselves into thinking we onwards was a tough time for every man and are. woman who feared history was repeating itself Does realizing this and calling for action since the 1991 Anita Hill accusations against make me a traitor to our little cult of silent current Supreme Court Justice Clarence complicity? Maybe. But if it means that women Thomas. It was an even harder time for women reading this will realize that remaining passive who identified with Dr. Ford’s trauma. in a world where male privilege is the norm Then came Kavanaugh’s portion of the makes them an accomplice to their continued hearing. Watching his defense, and a few sense of invincibility, I’m fine with that. Republican senators’ defenses on his behalf, And the responsibilities lie just as much with made me realize the kind of man he was and the “good men” in our lives. In my departing the nature of the group he belongs to. He was speech to my teammates of mostly male athletes, one and the same with the kind of men I went my most important point to them was to support to school with — the kind of men who will face their female teammates — not because they no knocks in life simply because nobody ever deserve special treatment as minorities, but told them no, or told them they were wrong because the value of being on a co-ed team was or simply said, “Dude, that’s not cool,” when just as much about men learning how to work they wanted to put slogans as vulgar as “Renate with women as it was about women learning how Alumnius” so proudly on their yearbooks. to work with men. While this seems obvious, I Americans should not divert the subject of am thankful that I had the opportunity to voice the conversation away from the criminality of this to them. I believe the majority of the men I Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge’s actions knew during my time at Dartmouth to be good in that house party 30-odd years ago, as that men — but this week has shed light on the value should remain the center of whether or not of constant questioning and holding one’s peers Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme to the highest standard of equality. The value Court. However, I cannot help but draw parallels of an institution can only go up when its value from Kavanaugh’s band of brothers to the men is consistently questioned for the sake of its own I knew during my time at Dartmouth, and the validity just as it says on the inside of my hat. culture of “boys will be boys” that will remain Speaking of said bequest, I have it packed away so at Dartmouth, lest the old traditions fail. already to bring back the next time I return to In a 2012 hardcover book “The Ivy League,” campus — to pass it on to another Dartmouth author Daniel Cappello gives each Ivy League woman who will need it more than I do. college an adjective that aptly describes what the college is like. Naturally, he describes Dartmouth as “The Rugged Ivy” — an The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns. We request unsurprising designation given Dartmouth’s that guest columns be the original work of the submitter. notoriety to the outside world. However, in Submissions may be sent to both opinion@thedartmouth. the book — also unsurprisingly — the author com and editor@thedartmouth.com. Submissions will doesn’t seem to mention how the inherently receive a response within three business days.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
Tobacco talk covers FDA regulations FROM TOBACCO PAGE 1
30 years, Zeller became director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products in 2013. He has since been instrumental in the ongoing and widely successful “The Real Cost” campaign, according to David Bisno MALS’94, instructor and discussion leader for the Osher Institute, who introduced him at the event. Zeller began the talk by discussing the rationale for government regulation of tobacco, citing research from as early as 1957 that recognized that tobacco was harmful. This research was ignored by the now dissolved Tobacco Institute, Inc., Zeller said, adding that it took public outcry after the release of the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Health and Safety to incite government regulation and call for accountability within the tobacco industry. However, much to Zeller’s dismay, tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable death in America — over 480,000 American deaths are linked to tobacco every year, according to his lecture. Because of this, the Center for Tobacco Products works to enforce the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which was passed in 2009 with overwhelming bipartisan support. “The idea is, ‘Let’s add product regulation to the panoply of evidence-based tobacco control interventions that have been underway at the federal, state and local levels for decades,’” Zeller said. “The goal is to reduce the harm overall by discouraging people from starting to smoke.” Under this legislation, the FDA has the authority to create tobacco product standards, demand detailed product information from companies, restrict changes, and control marketing and distribution. In order to better understand patterns of usage, the FDA has also begun a longitudinal study that collects the bio-data of 46,000 adults and children who engage with tobacco products, Zeller said. Though Zeller recognized that in recent years there has been a growing denormalization of tobacco use, he said he believes that it is still important to provide education and support to at-risk populations. In particular, the FDA has found that teens within the LGBTQIA+ community and those who live in rural areas are more likely to take up tobacco. On the other hand, vaping has become popular among teens across the board. Zeller described this trend as worrisome because it is still unclear whether e-cigarettes are in fact a safer way to use tobacco,
and they often lead teens to smoke [on regulation], and I wonder if cigarettes in the future. that means we are going to be 100 According to Zeller, “The years late on the next step. Most Real Cost” campaigns attempt to of my friends are addicted. I think communicate the negative effects that the way [Zeller] spoke was very tobacco has on lives in ways that empowering, and he does want a teens will respond to. The FDA better situation. I just think that in has concluded the long run, the that t h e s e “They can talk FDA does not have campaigns were the powers vested independently and collect all this in them to bring r e s p o n s i b l e data, but if they about changes he for preventing wants to see.” are not able to put about 350,000 B r i a n a yo u n g a d u l t s their foot down Krewson, a masters from smoking and make actual in Public Health and saved society student at Geisel $31 billion in change, then all School of Medicine, smoking-related of this regulation attended the costs within lecture because she goes nowhere. But two years of its wanted perspective I think it’s great conception. into what the A f t e r t h e that students at FDA is trying to lecture, a do in regards to q u e s t i o n a n d Dartmouth have regulating tobacco. answer session the opportunity “I think there’s took place, sort of a lack of to engage with during which implementation,” Zeller addressed someone from the she said. “They topics from how government.” can talk and collect the President all this data, but if Donald Trump’s they are not able to administration’s -BRIANA KREWSON, put their foot down ties to big and make actual MASTERS IN PUBLIC tobacco affect change, then all FDA regulations HEALTH STUDENT AT of this regulation to how tobacco GEISEL SCHOOL OF goes nowhere. But producing I think it’s great states are being MEDICINE that students at i m p a c t e d Dartmouth have by stricter the opportunity regulations. to eng age with Zeller said that changes in someone from the government.” administration have not impinged The Osher Lifelong Institute on the FDA’s mission to reduce chose to sponsor this lecture tobacco use because of FDA because they wanted an update commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s on the FDA’s progress on tobacco dedication. regulation and to understand “I have dealt with ever y how e-cigarettes are changing commissioner for 36 years,” Zeller the progress made, according said. “Gottlieb is unique. He is a to Thomas Blinkhorn, at large doctor. He is a cancer survivor. member of the Osher Institute’s He has a breadth and depth of Leadership Council. medical and regulatory experience. “People have been educated I also think the other challenge of about the dangers of tobacco, but being a regulator of a controversial tobacco companies have come up product where there is politically a with this clever new technology of lot of interest doesn’t change with e-cigarettes and vaping that they administrations. The legislative claim are not addictive,” Blinkhorn branch comes at this from every said. “I want[ed] Zeller to give me side. That’s their job.” an honest appraisal of what is going During the Q&A, Zeller also on and what he is doing.” discussed how regulation of tobacco Zeller hopes that his lecture shed has a very small impact on state some light on the role of regulators economies because there are few as “gatekeepers.” domestic tobacco farms. In 2008, “We can only go as far as the Congress even made billions of science will take us,” he said. dollars available to tobacco farmers “Everything is evidence based and so that they could convert to other the one thing I want folks to know crops. is that we take the responsibility Ana Perez Ternent ’22 said the we have under the statute very lecture hit close to home because seriously, but the guide for what we her closest friends all vape. do is the science. We come up with “I thought [the talk] was really policies that make the most sense great, but I also think we know to help reduce the leading cause of these things,” Ternent said. “We preventable death. That is the part know that we are 100 years late of my job I take the most seriously.”
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DARTMOUTHEVENTS
THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS
MIXED FROM MAINE: A JUGGLING ACT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018
CECILIA MORIN ’21
TODAY
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Symposium: “Cell Polarity Across the Diversity of Life,” sponsored by biochemistry department, Oopik Auditorium, Class of 1978 Life Scienthe ces Center
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Watercolor Exhibit: “Mystical Moments,” by artist Perry Williamson, 7 Lebanon Street, Suite 107
7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Performance: “Sally Pinkas with the Adaskin String Trio,” sponsored by Hopkins Center for the Arts, 123 Spaulding Auditorium
TOMORROW
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Visitation: “Winston the Therapy Dog,” sponsored by the Student Wellness Center, House Center B - The Cube
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Concert: “Fito Páez,” sponsored by the Spanish and Portuguese department, Collis Center Common Ground
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Lecture: “Cindy Ross: The World is your Classroom,” sponsored by Dartmouth Outing Club, Visual Arts Center 101
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018
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THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
Review: ‘A Star is Born’ is a sparkling, devastating love story B y jordan mcdonald The Dartmouth Staff
Directed by and star ring Bradley Cooper, and featuring pop supernova Lady Gaga, 2018’s “A Star is Born,” a remake of William Wellman’s 1937 film of the same name, breathes new life into the music drama genre. Telling the story of Jackson Maine (Cooper), a hardened rock musician from Arizona, and Ally (Gaga), a gifted yet unknown performer, “A Star is Born” offers a deep emotional dive into the inner workings of the music industry, the fleeting nature of fame and the limits of love. Exploring issues like addiction, suicide, grief and the deterioration of one’s health, it is remarkable that the film manages to keep a buoyant spirit, but it is able to do so thanks to the chemistry between Gaga and Cooper. Their potential as an on-screen couple gives the film an infectious kinetic energy. As Jack and Ally rise and fall, their passion for each other and their crafts anchor them to the world of the movie. Faced with the decline of his musical career as he witnesses the ascent of another’s, Jack must reckon with his past in
order to determine his future. Ally, on the other hand, must negotiate the terms of her impending success and her tendency to run from the spotlight. In the beginning, Gaga and Cooper must build the film up together, but, by the end, it is clear that this is Gaga’s show to steal. The movie opens with Jack, an alcoholic singer and guitarist, retreating into his hat and a bottle of alcohol shortly after a stadium performance. It is soon revealed that Jack is struggling to overcome a troubled childhood. Born in Arizona to a teen mother who died during childbirth, Jack and his older brother were raised by their alcoholic father, who died when Jack was 13. With extra bass in his voice, a full beard and a Southwestern twang, Cooper embodies Jack with care and attention to detail. A man overwhelmed by trauma and the worsening effect of tinnitus — a condition that causes intense ringing in one’s ears — Jack turns to music to block out the world, but he is forced to confront years later the fact that muting his ghosts has not made them disappear. In comes Ally, a remarkably talented singer-songwriter stuck
working in a hotel kitchen when she meets Jack. Stripped of her elaborate signature costumes and stage makeup, Gaga emerges as Ally and embodies the character with humor, tenacity and strength. At work and at home, where Ally lives with her father, she is deeply unfulfilled and counts the days until her next night club performance. Having earned the respect of the drag queens at a local bar, portrayed by notable queens such as Shangela of “Rupaul’s Drag Race,” Ally takes the stage on weeknights after work. Performing “La Vie en Rose,” Ally the performer is introduced as a sexy and powerful entertainer in stark contrast to the woman with whom we begin the film. Stopping in the bar for a drink, Jack happens upon Ally during her performance and finds himself awestruck. Intent on getting to know the woman behind the amazing show, Jack goes backstage to meet Ally, and both of their lives are changed exponentially as a response. Wide-eyed and hungry, Ally loves to sing and write songs, but has had her dreams defeated by industry representatives who claim she does not have the “look” to be a star.
Jack begs to differ; he thinks she’s a star in the making and pulls her into his nationwide tour to sing with him. Rejecting the doctor’s orders to begin wearing hearing aids, Jack gradually suffers from hearing loss, which he drowns out with alcohol and prescription pills which begin to affect his performances. But with Ally at his side, the best of his talent is brought forth for the tour’s second leg. Awed by her unique voice and potential at the decline of his career and health, Jack must grapple with his growing feelings for Ally while navigating addiction, a problem he fails at hiding from her. Gaining popularity from tour videos, Ally soon becomes a hot commodity in the recording industry and begins fielding offers for singles, albums and touring. Turning away from his dissolving music career, Jack becomes immersed in his relationship with Ally and proposes. Impulsive and passionate, the two artists soon marry and must face the trials, tribulations and demons that have always haunted them. “A Star is Born” is unapologetic about its function as a love story, but what is most compelling about the film’s interest in love is its understanding of its limitations.
Though Ally and Jack love each other, the film does not suggest that their affection will be enough to heal their respective wounds. Together, Cooper and Gaga deliver full-bodied performances that make Ally and Jack’s love believable, heart-wrenching and exciting. While the film will not be in theaters until Oct. 5, the early release of the movie’s single, “Shallow,” provides a good primer for the film’s atmosphere and energy. Thunderous and sweet, the song is offered up in the film as one of Ally’s original songs that she shares with Jack, and which they later perform in an enticing duet that mirrors the essence of the movie’s message. “A Star is Born” sets out to illustrate the sometimes-gruesome end of stardom for stars who do not fade gracefully into the past. Where Jack is concerned, the stakes are particularly high for bowing out, as Ally’s future hangs in the balance. Carrying the emotional weight of these transitional periods in life, the film also captures the high energy of a career on incline and the grief of watching your light go out. “A Star is Born” is a reminder that in life and in music, the old must go to make space for the new.
Review: ‘BlacKkKlansman’ is eviscerating of contemporary America B y willem gerrish The Dartmouth
S p i k e L e e ’s l at e s t f i l m , “BlacKkKlansman” is very much a movie created for and about the current American political and racial environment. Though set in the 1970s, Lee’s film is an unsubtle indictment of a Trumpian America that finds itself battling a harsh racial divide despite expectations that our progress and modernity should have left such racism behind long ago. “BlacKkKlansman” is based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, the first African-American officer in the Colorado Springs police force. In 1979, Stallworth devised and executed a plan to infiltrate his local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, using a fellow white police officer to serve as his physical stand-in. This story serves as the overarching plot for “BlacKkKlansman,” with John David Washington, Denzel Washington’s son, playing Stallworth, and Adam Driver serving as his white counterpart, Flip Zimmerman. Washington and Driver both give impressive, understated performances that adeptly blend humor, drama and horror to give an accurate portrait of average Americans deeply concerned with the violent and offensive racism that pervades the nation. Alongside them are Laura Harrier as a determined and politically active Colorado College student and Topher Grace as the
despicable David Duke, Grand Wizard of the KKK. The film walks an interesting line between uproarious comedy and affecting racial drama, and it switches between these moments with shattering rapidity. The opening sequence uses images from the southern epic “Gone with the Wind” and D.W. Griffith’s infamous pro-KKK silent film “The Birth of a Nation” as Alec Baldwin plays a small role as an angry white supremacist spewing hate-speech. This introduction shows the dramaticcomedic juxtaposition of Lee’s entire film: the horrible scenes from “The Birth of a Nation” and Baldwin’s terrifying rhetoric strike to the heart of systemic American racism, yet Baldwin hilariously stumbles over his own words and comedically asks an off-screen aide to help him vehemently assert white Christian dominance. This duality pervades the film as a whole, with comedic sequences contrasting scenes of militant racism and police abuse of black Americans. For example, there is a scene later in the film in which Stallworth chases down and tackles an overweight, maladapt KKK-wife fresh off a botched bomb-planting. It initially renders itself as uproarious comedy and triumphant success for Stallworth, but it ends with white police officers aggressively arresting Stallworth as he tries to hold the woman down and she screams false accusations of rape. The overall effect is that the film is both
entertaining and enduringly intense; while the jokes keep viewers engaged, the scenes that really linger and stick with them are the moments of hyperrealistic violence and intensity. Perhaps the movie’s biggest fault is its shallow and caricatured portrayal of certain characters, in particular the white supremacists who make up the local chapter of the KKK. While Stallworth and Zimmerman are complex and intricate, the Klansmen are rendered like the classic rural racist American stereotype: poorly educated, tactless, gun-loving and diversity-hating. These men are the primary antagonists in the film, and yet they have none of the subtleties that would make for an intriguing counterpart to the imperfect but heroic Stallworth. This changes slightly with the introduction of Grace as Duke, a role Grace initially plays with reservation and quietness. In this film, Duke begins not as some angry, outspoken racist but as a calm, contemplative one, and his phone conversations with Stallworth show him to be genuinely concerned with how diversity might affect America. It’s interesting because in no way does it excuse Duke’s racism, but it does make him a much more intriguing villain than the rest of the film’s white antagonists. Nonetheless, as the movie hurtles toward its conclusion, Duke becomes increasingly angry with his disposition and rhetoric, culminating in a quasi-Catholic confirmation of KKK
members and a triumphant showing of “The Birth of a Nation.” Here, Lee does not work in subtle implication but in overt connection, bringing “The Birth of a Nation” back as a defining instance of racism deeply ingrained into the American psyche: a Hollywood film exalted, lauded and taken as truth about the vile evilness of blacks. Indeed, Lee’s heavy-handedness is evident throughout the film, as he makes clear allusions to the modern political climate and the presidency of Donald Trump. In one instance, Stallworth’s sergeant speaks with him about how Duke plans to insidiously make racism a part of American political doctrine, “... until, one day, he can get someone in the White House who embodies it.” This sternly delivered line is followed by a long, tenuous pause, almost forcing viewers to fill in the blank whether they want to or not: Trump is that someone. And it doesn’t stop there: later on, Duke speaks to Stallworth about his desires “for America to achieve its greatness again,” almost a verbatim replication of Trump’s infamous “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan. As if this weren’t enough, the film’s closing sequence takes all of the movie’s implications of modern racism in a Trumpian America and distills it down to a searing portrait of the contemporary American truth. Just before the credits roll, Lee skips from 1979 to 2017 with real-life footage of the horrendously violent
Charlottesville riots in August of that year. Lee uses images of neo-Nazis and white supremacists championing the Confederate flag and screaming hate-speech and intersperses these images with clips from Trump’s press conferences about the riots. Then, in a deeply affecting clip, Lee shows real footage of a white supremacist deliberately driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, which results in the death of one woman. The film’s closing image is of an upside-down American flag that fades from red, white and blue to the sharp contrast of black and white. This final sequence initially comes across as almost unnecessary — it’s like Lee is giving us the SparkNotes version of his film, telling us exactly what he means and what we should take away from it. In most instances, I would say this ruins all the subtlety of film that makes it such a fascinating medium for statements about society and politics. But after thinking about this scene and the film as a whole, I can see how Lee correctly thought it a necessary addition. It transforms “BlacKkKlansman” from a quiet roar into a searing scream — a viscerally overt statement about the horrific nature of racism, violence and politics in contemporary America. Lee makes certain his viewers know that this is not the stuff of imaginative fiction; it is the stuff of the immediate, tumultuous American reality.
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2018
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
‘Blind Cinema’ offers new perspectives for adult audiences Evans said she first got involved because the show would be happening in the Hop’s theater and The lights go down on an audience she understood the space and the sitting in silent anticipation, and white technical needs, but she also became sparks rain down the black screen. A involved in recruiting child narrators second passes, then a white circle, like because of her 9-year-old son. a searchlight, travels the edge of the “The Hop is sort of a jungle and picture and expands to fill the screen. a zoo and ... sometimes you come in In coordinated motion, audience here for a prepackaged experience members tie blindfolds around their where you know what you’re getting eyes and wait for the show to truly into,” Evans said. “You know what begin. you’re signed up for, and it’s nice to From there, the small crowd enters have zoo experiences like that. But it’s a timeless limbo. The narrators — also good to have jungle experiences children, ages 9 to 11 — tiptoe in and where you’re out exploring on your line up behind the sightless audience own and you don’t know what you’re to fit soft cones attached to hollow gonna find and it’s a little bit scary, pipes over the viewers’ ears, each and you’re really in the thick of it, child whispering into one tube-end, encountering the art as it is. I feel like “Can you hear me?” Everyone nods. ‘Blind Cinema’ is one of these jungle What follows is a journey through experiences.” a room with white walls, through For the audience, the show the pages of a held an air of big red book “I think I was trying to unpredictable and through mystery. Though a p ro j e c t o r create an experience o b s e r ve r s screen with that brings these two understood the an umbrellabasic idea, few worlds together in a wielding knew much stranger, over way where the child beyond the dirty floors and takes responsibility... blindfolds and the stones and egg young narrators. s h e l l s. T h e There’s definitely a Still, they were audience exits changing of roles, intrigued by the in a daze half potential of an which I hope allows an hour or so indescribable later; all of us for the children to gain new experience. have attended confidence of how Before entering the same film, Loew Auditorium, they’re seeing and but we leave Caroline Atwood with different how they’re expressing ’ 2 1 s a i d s h e images, the looked forward themselves.” p ro d u c t o f to the mysterious children’s production. w o r d s a n d -BRITT HATZIUS, CREATOR “It’s such an of our own unusual event — OF ‘BLIND CINEMA’ imagination. I have no idea This past what’s going to Sunday, the happen, and I’m Hopkins Center for the Arts presented so excited,” Atwood said. “I feel like “Blind Cinema,” a production it’s going to be life-changing.” created by European artist Britt After the show ended, Atwood said Hatzius and presented by local she left the auditorium still in awe. children. The show was months in “It was amazing,” she said. “It the making; Johanna Evans ’10, was everything I expected and more. film programming and operations Definitely the contrast between how manager for the Hop, was brought on kids view the world and how we view board to help plan the show starting in the world and the fragmentary nature April and planning began in earnest of that was really shown.” in June. Hatzius said she wished to H o w e v e r, p r e l i m i n a r y emphasize the difference between organization began before April. The viewing through the eyes of children Hop’s previous program director, and those of adults. Margaret Lawrence, discovered the “I’m not only thinking about show at a presenting conference and the audience, I’m not only thinking was blown away, Evans said. about the kids — that’s really a
B y macy toppan The Dartmouth
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIA BARANOVA/THE HOPKINS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Local children were asked to serve as narrators for audience members and describe images playing on the screen.
combination of the two,” she said. “I think I was trying to create an experience that brings these two worlds together in a way where the child takes responsibility. Usually we have adults telling kids what to do, and here it’s kids telling adults not what to do, but what to imagine. There’s definitely a changing of roles, which I hope allows for the children to gain confidence of how they’re seeing and how they’re expressing themselves.” Evans also felt intrigued by the change in the normal power dynamics in the show. “I love the idea of overturning the traditional power dynamic between children and adults,” she said. “Often when children are brought into a theater space, they’re told to be quiet and sit still and keep themselves to themselves, and I really liked the idea of an experience for kids to be [part of] the theater.” Hatzius said she found inspiration in a variety of areas. “I have a visual arts background and I was making films, and I realized at some point that we live in a time where there’s an overload of images — [we’re] kind of bombarded by them — and I wanted to see what happens when you don’t see,” she said. She started researching people
who perceive the world differently without visual medium and found audio-description, which uses narrators who have watched a movie a few times to describe the images for those who cannot see them. “Especially [recent] American films ... they are actually required to have an audio-description track on their films for people with impaired sight,” she said. However, the “Blind Cinema” narrators differ from those who do audio-description. They do not see the film before the show, and the movie is only screened once to ensure that it is an entirely unique experience for all parties involved, Hatzius said. The narrators are also much younger than typical audio-descriptors. “This age range is also very particular — between 9 and 11 — because they’re in the middle of discovering the potential of language, but they’re also fluid enough to be able to just do [narration] without thinking too much,” she said. “So that’s one reason, and also just to highlight the fact that everybody has a different way of seeing and a different way of describing ... the idea of it is really to let them speak, to let them decide how they want to describe something.” Evans’s 9-year-old son, Finn, said
he enjoyed watching the movies for “Blind Cinema” as a narrator. When asked about the experience of narrating to adults, he said he felt that he was under pressure, but being anonymous took some of the pressure off. To this day, Hatzius said she has not gotten any complaints from her audience. She said she found it interesting to see a group of blindfolded people sit in a cinema, which is visually oriented toward a screen. “It’s a strange situation itself, so a lot of the times when I describe it to somebody … first of all, they’re very curious,” she said. “A lot of people have actually never sat blindfolded for that long — for 35 minutes.” Hatzius, who said she sought to create an experience that showed how everybody sees, experiences, reads and interprets differently, has since brought the show to 14 countries in 10 different languages. “I never really go out thinking I’m going to accomplish something for sure with my work, but I think that what I try to do ... is to create a piece that has many different layers ... I think I was trying to create an experience that brings two worlds together in a way where a child takes responsibility,” she said.