The Dartmouth 10/09/18

VOL. CLXXV NO.78

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Laps around Homecoming bonfire limited

PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 76 LOW 54

By Abby mihaly The Dartmouth Staff

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

OPINION

LI SHEN: THE COMFORTS OF HOME PAGE 4

PERRY: RETHINKING RELATIONSHIPS PAGE 4

ARTS

NEW ART EXHIBIT ‘THE BOOTH’ SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT ART PAGE 7

REVIEW: ‘SORRY TO BOTHER YOU’ IS AN INSANE, SURREALISTIC RIDE PAGE 8 FOLLOW US ON

TWITTER @thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2018 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.

Members of the Class of 2022 will have to find a new source of exercise during Homecoming this year. The College is “truly on probation,” according to associate professor of engineering Douglas Van Citters; bonfire and surrounding festivities have been redesigned to respond to safety concerns after the town of Hanover denied the College’s permit request in late May. Following changes, the permit was approved on Sept. 28.

Town manager Julia Griffin said the town’s initial denial of the permit stemmed from its frustration over a mounting SEE BONFIRE PAGE 3

Last year’s Homecoming bonfire stood 33 feet tall, and students ran 21 laps around the fire.

Women’s rush sees a decrease in member class sizes

a sorority, a decline from 2017’s 71 percent. According to the Office of The Dartmouth Greek Life, 139 women dropped out The number of bids extended this of the recruitment process. year during Inter-Sorority Council Thirty-five bids were extended at sorority recruitment experienced a Alpha Phi sorority, 32 at Alpha Xi Delta decline compared to past years. This sorority, 32 at Chi Delta sorority, nine fall, 239 bids were given, a drop from at Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, 26 at Kappa Delta sorority, 37 at Kappa 277 in both 2017 and 2016.

Out of the 375 total women who Delta Epsilon sorority, 35 at Kappa registered for recruitment — a decrease Kappa Gamma sorority and 33 at from 394 women who registered in Sigma Delta sorority. EKT accepted 2017, and an increase from 345 in 14 additional new members during 2016 — 62.2 percent ended up joining its continuous open bidding process,

B y kyle mullins

which immediately followed the formal recruitment process.

According to the Office of Greek Life, “women who did not register for the recruitment process are eligible to get a bid through continuous open bidding.”

This year, EKT was required to participate in the formal recruitment process by the ISC instead of conducting the independent “shakeout” process that the sorority has been using since 2012, according to EKT president Thuyen Tran ’19.

Hovey murals to be relocated to Hood storage B y anthony robles The Dartmouth Staff

College President Phil Hanlon announced on Sept. 26 that the controversial Hovey Murals would be moved to an offcampus Hood Museum of Art storage facility following a recommendation submitted by the Hovey Murals study group. The Hovey Murals, consisting of four painted scenes and located in the basement of the Class of 1953 Commons, were painted in the late 1930s by Walter

Beach Humphrey, Class of 1914.

According to “The Hovey Murals at Dartmouth: Culture & Context,” a collection of essays complied by College faculty that was published in 2011, the murals depict Eleazar Wheelock, the founder of the College, “entering the North Woods with a five-hundred-gallon barrel of rum” before meeting a Native American chief. The murals then show the Native American leader becoming one of the College’s first SEE HOVEY PAGE 2

In order to be eligible for shakeout, sororities are obligated to submit petitions to the ISC. While this rule was not enforced over the past several years, according to Tran, a petition was requested this past spring — and rejected twice.

“We respect ISC — we understand the ISC’s mission and as part of ISC, we would like to continue doing shakeout as we have been doing the past few years,” Tran said the petitions argued.

SEE ISC PAGE 3

INDIGENOUS AND PROUD

SARAH ALPERT/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Students celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, marching on the Green.

PAGE 2

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Women in CS attend Annual security and fire safety report conference sees similar numbers B y vivek hazari The Dartmouth

The College’s department of computer science sponsored 25 students’ attendance at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computer Science from Sept.

26 to 28, providing women in computer science opportunities for networking, professional development and recruitment.

The Anita Borg Foundation created the conference with the goal of helping women in tech connect with each other and to help create equality in the field of technology. According to the foundation’s website, this is a part of the foundation’s larger mission to foster the community for women in computing that computer scientist Anita Borg helped create.

The Grace Hopper Conference i s t h e l a rg e s t o f i t s k i n d , attracting over 20,000 attendees and internationally renowned speakers like Priscilla Chan, cofounder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; Emily Chang, anchor and executive producer of “Bloomberg Technology” and Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX. Computer science professor T h o m a s C o r m e n h as m ade attending this conference a reality for students for several years — Dartmouth women have been attending the conference since 2012. He said it was an excellent opportunity for students to grow as professionals and for Dartmouth’s community of women in computer science to grow.

“It’s great because everybody gets to know someone from the Dartmouth group better,” he said.

Linda Xiao ’20, a computer science major and Grace Hopper attendee, said that during her time at Dartmouth, she had not faced overt exclusion as a women in a male-dominated field. However, Xiao said that her more advanced computer science classes could be almost entirely male at times, adding that it can be alienating to be the only girl in a class and not know anyone well.

Talking about her experience at Grace Hopper, she said, “You’re just surrounded by people interested in the same things you are and encouraging each other.”

Ijemma Onwuzulike ’19, who is also majoring in computer science

and attended the conference, explained how, as a senior, the conference provided her the opportunity to connect with employers to find jobs after college.

“This was the first time I started looking at smaller companies,” O n w u z u l i k e s a i d . “ G o o g l e, Facebook, Amazon, they provide some kind of job security, but for me I wanted something high impact, something I know people would be using.”

She added that the conference’s size and focus on women let her connect with someone whose specific work in processing sign language beyond ASL aligned with her Japanese language and culture minor.

“Going to Grace Hopper, I found talking to other women about why they were going to grad school, or why they wanted a Ph.D.,” Onwuzulike said. “It was a more personal experience.”

Ta k i n g t h e t r i p t h ro u g h Dartmouth allowed her to connect with other women in the computer science department that she hadn’t met before or hadn’t talked to much, and the Grace Hopper conference helped act as a shared experience for the Dartmouth women in computer science, Onwuzulike said.

Speaking more broadly about the department, Cormen explained how there has been a push to modernize and foster success for all.

“It’s not just women, it’s a matter of underrepresented groups,” he said. He acknowledged the fact that the computer science department has historically been male dominated, but noted there have been recent developments to increase diversity within their staff.

“We’ve added four new faculty this year alone, and one of them is a woman of color,” Cormen said.

Additionally, the computer science de partment tenured computer science professor Xia Zhou, its first female professor, last year.

Sending students to the Grace Hopper Conference is part of a larger push at Dartmouth to help create equity in the field, Cormen said. However, despite female students performing equally well, if not exceeding the caliber of male students in computer science, there will exist a need for programs like the Grace Hopper Conference for a long time, he added.

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

B y CLAUDIA BERNSTEIN The Dartmouth Staff

On Monday, Oct. 1, the College released the 2018 Clery Act Security and Fire Safety Report, reporting campus crime statistics from 2015 to 2017. College crime statistics reported for 2017 are comparable to past years’ reports, said to Title IX coordinator and Clery compliance officer Kristi Clemens.

“There were no surprises this year,” interim director of the Department of Safety and Security Keysi Montás said. “Looking at the numbers and comparing them to past years, I don’t see any great trends or great differences.”

In 2017, there were 24 reported rape cases, as compared to 25 in 2016 and 20 in 2015. These numbers have been fairly consistent since 2015. In 2014, there was an increase from prior years with 48 reported rape cases.

According to Clemens, there was an increase in reported crimes of sexual violence in the past three years because of increased implementation of campus educational programs on reporting incidents.

In 2014, the Clery Act was amended to require reporting of Violence Against Women Act crimes that were not previously included in the report, Montás said. These crimes include, in addition to the original crimes reported by the Clery Act, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. VAWA amendment crime reports have been fairly consistent over the past three years.

In 2017, there were six reported incidents involving domestic violence, compared to eight in 2015 and three in 2015. There were also nine stalking incidents, compared to six in 2016 and 10 in 2015. There was one report of statutory rape compared to zero in both 2016 and 2015.

In contrast to the VAWA amendment crimes, fondling reports have increased in recent years, with 14 reports in 2017 as compared to eight in 2016 and four in 2015.

There are a variety of resources available on campus for victims of sexual violence to report crimes, Montás said, including both private and confidential resources. Private resources are obliged to report any form of sexual misconduct to the Title IX coordinator, while confidential resources may not disclose any details of an incident without the impacted student’s expressed consent. However, when a student reports an incident to a confidential resource, a crime can still anonymously be added to the Clery tally, he added.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act of 1990, or the Clery Act,

was “revolutionary” legislature for its time, representing a big development for consumer protection rights and general campus safety, according to Clemens. The Clery Act is named for Jeanne Clery, a 19 year old student at Lehigh University who was raped and murdered in her residence hall in 1986. “[The Clery Act] is in essence a consumer protection law. When a student chooses a college or university, they have a right to know what the environment of that campus is like,” Clemens said. “So, while it can be a complicated process for those of us that collect the numbers and the data, it’s important that we are as accurate as we can possibly be and make them accessible to everybody because we all have a right to know what happens on this campus.”

According to Clemens, the numbers demonstrate the College’s continued commitment to reporting crimes such as alcohol use, drug use and sexual assault.

“I think maybe sometimes people get caught up on the numbers but, to me, the numbers say that people on this campus care about each other and want to ask for help and want to intervene when they see something that has gone wrong,” she said.

Senior associate dean of student affairs Liz Agosto ’01 noted that while the numbers have been consistent over the years, the number of disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations has decreased slightly in recent years. In 2017, the College had 273 disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations as compared to 293 in 2016 and 313 in 2015.

In 2015, there was an increase in the number of disciplinary referrals for alcohol violations. This occurred because in 2015, the College began to count Good Samaritan calls and educational referrals to Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students or “BASICS,” which do not become disciplinary issues for students, but are included as part of the disciplinary referrals in the Clery Report, Agosto said.

According to Agosto, there has been an increase in Good Samaritan calls in recent years.

“I do think that students are more aware of alcohol on campus and more aware of the harms that are attached,” Agosto said. “I think that that’s true both anecdotally from engagements that we have as well as data and surveys and all of the education that we’re doing with students. I’ve been heartened by the increase in ‘Good Sam’ numbers and I’ve been heartened by students kind of taking educational programs really seriously.”

She added that the implementation

of the campus-wide hard alcohol ban in 2015 has resulted in a reduction in incidence of high-risk alcohol incidents, such as dangerous blood alcohol levels and hospitalizations at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

“Certainly the data that we have in other places outside of Clery shows reduction of hard alcohol consumption and we also see reduction in these other measures [such as blood alcohol content and hospitalization rates] that indicate change,” Agosto said.

Agosto also noted that there is a continued concern regarding hate crime behaviors that are not necessarily included under the Clery Act’s strict definition of hate crime, which requires that a specific victim was “intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias against the victim.”

Agosto referred to “targeted behaviors” such as the repeated weekly tearing down of the genderneutral bathroom signs in the Collis Center causing ongoing community concern. While incidents like these are not always included in the Clery act report as hate crimes, they qualify as targeted, biased behaviors, Agosto noted.

According to Montás, this past year was the first that the Good Samaritan policy was reformed to include incidents involving illicit drug use. However, he said that no change in reported incidents involving drugs can be attributed to the change in the Good Samaritan policy.

In 2017, 22 disciplinary referrals were reported for drug law violations, compared to eight in 2016 and 16 in 2015.

According to Agosto, there are several prevention and education programs in development that will be key in lowering Clery numbers and reducing harm on campus. The Student Wellness Center, along with the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative have created a four-year curriculum aimed at helping students understand harm behaviors and acquire the skills to intervene, she added.

“I think our pre-matriculation program for both alcohol and sexual violence has really shifted and the feedback this year has been the most positive ever in terms of students really understanding what it was, what we were teaching as well as taking away real skills and knowledge from it,” Agosto said. “I think the sexual violence prevention project, which is the four year violence prevention curriculum that the student wellness center is working on with campus partners is going to be really pivotal.”

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Inter-Sorority Council makes structural rush changes FROM ISC PAGE 1

However, according to Tran, the ISC said that “when one of [its] sororities is doing something else,” it clashes with the council’s mission to be “inclusive.”

The ISC declined requests for comment.

A majority of sororities saw a reduction in the size of their incoming classes. While APhi, AXiD, Chi Delt, EKT, KDE, Kappa and Sigma Delt had smaller fall new member classes compared to last fall, KD’s new member class increased from nine new members in the fall of 2017 to 26 this fall.

This year, the ISC made various structural changes to the formal recruitment process. Potential new members were required to visit all eight sororities during the first round, signing up for one-hour slots online.

They were allowed to leave after the half-hour mark.

Lindsey Beaudoin ’21, who received a bid from AXiD, said that she enjoyed meeting women in all eight houses.

“You got to talk to a lot of people in each house, which was cool, because especially with sororities, most people don’t know a lot coming into the process,” Beaudoin said.

Hi’ilani Hopkins ’21, who received

a bid from APhi, said she appreciated the flexibility in the recruitment process.

“This year, you could basically choose [your time slots], so it was really helpful with scheduling and stuff, especially if you had practices or x-hours or labs,” Hopkins said.

However, she added that the recruitment process was “definitely” stressful.

“Round one was from Thursday to Sunday, and I didn’t do work that whole time, basically,” she said.

During round two, potential new members could be called back to a maximum of five houses. They registered for 45-minute slots and were required to stay at those houses the entire time.

AsthesmallestsororityattheCollege, EKT received accommodations from the ISC to host parties of shorter lengths, according to Tran.

Preference night follows rounds one and two, during which PNMs could be called back to a maximum of two houses. The next day, PNMs received their bids from their recruitment counselors.

“Getting the results back and figuring out what to do from there was definitely where the stress sort of started to kick in,” Beaudoin said.

“There’s a lot of emotional trauma surrounding it.”

Homecoming fire changes with permit FROM BONFIRE PAGE 1

unsafe atmosphere as students tried to touch the fire, despite added College safety measures.

“In recent years, [the Homecoming fire tradition] has gotten more incendiary — it seems more angry and has more of a potential for violence,” Griffin said, adding that the Hanover Police department was concerned “with the potential for riot.”

This year’s approved permit specifies that students may not run around the fire. Van Citters, who serves as chair of the working group commissioned by the College to make recommendations regarding the fire’s new design, said students will instead come in and march around the fire as a class, after which students can take pictures and enjoy the fire in a safer way.

“We consider this an extraordinary success, that we’re able to have a bonfire at all,” he added.

“If these innovations don’t remove the risk, that’s it,” Griffin said. “It just can’t continue like this.”

According to Van Citters, the bonfire will stand 28 feet tall rather than 33 and will use the same amount

of wood, but the top of the bonfire will have a different aspect ratio than in years past in order to increase the likelihood it will collapse inward in a worst-case scenario. The construction techniques will be the same.

“Very few people are going to be able to actually recognize the difference aesthetically,” Van Citters said.

There will still be steel event fencing, as per request of the town and recommendation of the fire chief, who decides the size of the safe-zone.

First year students will still be able to access the inner viewing area next to the fire, he said.

The fire engines, the Hanover Police Department and Green Mountain Safety will work in conjunction with Dartmouth’s Safety and Security, according to interim director of Dartmouth Safety and Security Keysi Montás.

The newly designed event will include a large tent on the Green with a band and food, as well as speeches, which were previously delivered on the steps of Dartmouth Hall, according to Van Citters.

He explained that the committee SEE BONFIRE PAGE 5

AXiD’s vice president of membership Rachel Inman ’19 said that this year’s process was “much more structured and organized” than last year, which made it “a lot better, planning purposes-wise, for the sisters on the other side, because you knew exactly how many people were coming.”

The rounds were capped in terms of the number of people who could attend at once, which helped control overcrowding, a concern from last year’s process, Inman added.

But EKT recruitment chair Bethany Malzman ’19 said the combination of EKT’s smaller size with this year’s increased number of parties and the sorority’s lack of experience with the formal recruitment process was difficult for EKT members. Malzman noted that participating in the recruitment process this year “was really draining.”

“We’re not very happy with ISC,” Tran said.

Inman said she found it surprising that fewer women registered to rush this year than last year because the Class of 2021 is larger than the Class of 2020. However, the biggest surprise was that over a third of women dropped out of rush, she said. “[The reasons are] hard to know, because to me, it seemed more organized and a better experience,”

Inman said.

AXiD president Lara Balick ’19 said she believes the results of fall sorority recruitment will affect winter recruitment.

“Normally, winter rush classes are only 10 to 15 people, but we think there will be much larger winter rush classes [this year],” Balick said.

Srishti Bagchi ’21, who dropped from the recruitment process after round two, said she may register for recruitment again in the winter.

Bagchi said she received two callbacks in round one, and after visiting those two sororities again, she decided that “it would be a better decision to drop out from fall rush and then re-rush, potentially, in the winter.”

During the formal recruitment process, a computer algorithm matches PNM preferences with sorority preferences, determining house placements in each round.

Many women, including new members and recruitment chairs, had questions about the way the algorithm worked and transparency in the process.

Balick said that some of the frustrations that arose were that PNMs felt as if they did not have autonomy in their choices and callbacks. Additionally, due to a lack of transparency, PNMs had questions about the way the process works, she

added.

“I think a lot of people expect to get two, three, four houses in their top five, but for me and a lot of people, it did not turn out that way,” Beaudoin said, crediting this year’s higher drop rate to this reason.

Maddy D’Amico ’21, who received a bid from APhi, also said she questioned some of her results.

“If I’m [ranking the sorority] as eighth out of eight, I don’t want to be there, so I don’t know why you would call me back here,” D’Amico said.

D’Amico said she connected the high drop rate this year to the algorithm and the process, adding that “a lot of people just didn’t seem to get what they wanted.” Nonetheless, she said she understands the need for a system to effectively match the preferences of hundreds of PNMs to the eight sororities.

Varsha Iyer ’21, who dropped the process after round two, said that she has “no regrets” about joining the recruitment process.

“I think a lot of people were really upset about the houses they didn’t get,” Iyer said. “But, because I came in with the mentality that ‘I don’t even have a connection to rush or anything,’ it’s fine. Within 10 minutes, I was over it.”

Iyer is a member of The Dartmouth staff.

PAGE 4

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

STAFF COLUMNIST SABRINA LI SHEN ‘21

GUEST COLUMNIST TONY PERRY ’99

The Comforts of Home

Rethinking Relationships

This weekend, I returned home for 36 hours. support my parents comfortably and give them I slept in a bed that was not a twin XL, I drove everything they deserve. I want a lot out of around my home town, I ate authentic Chinese my Dartmouth education — friends, maturity, food — in short, I enjoyed the comforts of home. intellectual fulfillment, unforgettable experiences At the same time, it didn’t really feel like “home” ... and a path to success. anymore. My childhood bedroom was given to I have previously written about wanting to me for a night, but it had been occupied by my be successful. For the most part, I am following sister for about two weeks, due to the presence the traditional path — I joined clubs and of relatives staying over. My sister’s belongings organizations that will look good on my resume, decorated the crevices of the room I had always I look for chances to further my career goals and thought of mine. This time, I felt like a guest. I try to “network” (whatever that means). Like My customary mug languished in a cabinet; I the typical Dartmouth student, I don’t have much fumbled a bit with the new coffee maker. I could time to myself. Going home for the weekend made still navigate my home town with ease, but I me realize that I don’t spend enough of the time felt out of place at my regular nail salon. The I actually have to myself on family. suburban moms who usually frequent the salon Over the past four weeks, my mom has called gossiped about places and me approximately 10 times, people whom I no longer “I often forget that I and I have returned her recognized or knew much have a home separate calls approximately once. about. Thankfully, the The calls come around 8 Chinese food still tasted from Dartmouth. I or 9 p.m., so I’m usually in delicious. a meeting, in the library or forget that there is My trip back home taking a quick power nap. I reminded me that the a world outside of don’t call back often because idea of “home” is a Dartmouth. I forget that there’s always something moving target. I think of there is a version of to attend to — a deadline, my childhood home with a friend, an event, a neverfondness and nostalgia, myself known to others ending list of responsibilities but I feel too big for it now. who do not attend and obligations. My call log My home at Dartmouth shows much of the same is comforting and fleeting Dartmouth.” pattern: my mom always all at once; I have a steady calls me more than I call her. routine, and I have friends It’s not that I don’t have time who make me happy and grateful every day, to call her back — I just always feel like there’s but I know my time here is limited. The home I something more important to do. dream of is aesthetically pleasing and probably I often forget that I have a home separate from more expensive than I will be able to afford; Dartmouth. I forget that there is a world outside more importantly, it is filled with people I love. I of Dartmouth. I forget that there is a version don’t have many specifics in mind for the layout of myself known to others who do not attend or furnishing of my future home, but I want to Dartmouth. This is an all-consuming place, for make my parents proud when they see it. More better or for worse — it is the type of place one importantly, my future home needs to have would want to dive into, take advantage of every enough space to house my parents if they decide opportunity and kick down every door. I am no to live with me in their old age. exception, but I am coming to the realization that In many Asian cultures, it is customary for my time here does not mean much to me if I’m parents to live with their children after retirement keeping it separate from the people who raised or when grandchildren are born. Regardless of me. If I spend so much time working toward whether or not my parents decide to do the same, the future I want to give my family that I end I want them to have that option. Money doesn’t up isolating myself from them, then I haven’t buy happiness, but it can buy living space. In accomplished much at all. Home is where the that same vein, money will make it possible to heart is, and I want to reconnect with mine.

As the country reflects on allegations of sororities. I saw that in who got invited by sexual assault against a young, drunk Brett whom to formals, and how the guys who Kavanaugh, I cannot help but think about got on most with women (and vice versa) my own college days at Dartmouth in the behaved. late 1990s. I did not sexually assault anyone, I also felt the power of peer pressure and but I can see how it could happen and wish the wish to belong. To spend more time with I knew then what I know now. women, I had to win the favor of men. This When I was at Dartmouth, the Greek was no easy feat, given that I’d always felt system all but defined social life. It was a more comfortable around women. I tried marked contrast to my high school days to prove my worth and certainly had my at a math and science boarding school in moments. I drank more than I should have, Oklahoma, where alcohol could get you tried to dance at parties (badly) and hoped expelled. I had my first beer in the basement that “luck” would go my way. It just wasn’t of a hot, packed fraternity — a cheap, me. I preferred quiet nights in with friends bitter and watery lager consumed not for over nights out but struggled to admit it. enjoyment, but for intoxication.

Bring that together with crowds of young Like most Dartmouth students then, I people and it’s so easy to see how someone spent many weekends going from house to could cross the line. It just takes a moment house, drinking, dancing and hoping luck for it to happen. I can see Brett Kavanaugh might lead to more. I thought drunken and his friend Mark Judge having a drunken hookups were good things and just part of laugh together — perhaps about “getting college life for those who had them. That, lucky” that night — just as Christine Blasey I thought, was the point of going out each Ford enters the room. As sexual assault cases weekend. at Dartmouth show, that kind of moment is I hadn’t really thought about what is meant all it takes. by consent, beyond the obvious fact that “no I felt that being Greek — or not — was means no.” I didn’t think about whether a life-defining choice. If I couldn’t make two drunken, lust-fuelled life work at Dartmouth, people could make an “The #MeToo era gives then what chance did I informed decision about have in the “real world”? me hope, even as we something that could I wish I knew then what affect them for the rest of as a society are still I know now. I wish I their lives. It’s about more working out what it knew that there is a very than the “walk of shame” big world beyond the we laughed about. It’s means for our day-toHanover plain, made up about the possibility of day interactions and the of people with all sorts of a life of regret. goals and dreams. I wish crimes of the past.”

I see this playing out I could tell myself that it’s so clearly with Brett okay to be myself — and Kavanaugh. Whether or that, by doing so, I could not he sexually assaulted truly grow. I wish I could a young Christine Blasey Ford, he certainly tell myself that it would all work out in the liked his beer and his nights out in high school end — that I’d find a fulfilling job, have a and at Yale — just like many at Dartmouth wonderful family and lead a fulfilling life have. I don’t doubt that a sober, hard-working doing things I would never have dreamed Brett Kavanaugh wouldn’t have dreamed of. I would have been much happier. of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford The #MeToo era gives me hope, even as or anyone else; the question is whether a we as a society are still working out what it drunken Brett Kavanaugh did. means for our day-to-day interactions and Nearly 20 years since graduating, I now the crimes of the past. True progress, in my find myself working in a quality improvement mind, will see people coming together based team at a mental health hospital in Oxford, on the compatibility of their characters and England and doing similar volunteer work their values, rather than what they see or with a hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. I have don’t see through beer-tinted goggles. seen that when things go wrong — such as I’m pleased that Dartmouth is leading the a hospital-acquired infection, wrong-site way on improving students’ social lives with surgery or a death in hospital by suicide the ban on hard alcohol and the development — the solutions more often than not lie of the housing communities. I hope today’s in the environment. This is not to say that students see that they can make friends individuals, like Brett Kavanaugh, aren’t and have relationships by simply being responsible for their own actions — they themselves. Life is hard enough without are. However, it is essential to look at the trying to be like someone else. environment and the underlying social culture in order to see lasting change.

Perry is a member of the Class of 1999.

As a student, I felt the pressure of the Greek system. I was a non-Greek and often The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns. We felt like an outsider. Though weekend parties request that guest columns be the original work of the were usually open to all, real popularity and submitter. Submissions may be sent to both opinion@ social success belonged to those selected thedartmouth.com and editor@thedartmouth.com. as members of fraternities and sororities Submissions will receive a response within three — especially the “right” fraternities and business days.

Don’t forget where you come from.

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In the #MeToo era, can men and women finally be themselves?

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

Murals moved following study group FROM HOVEY PAGE 1

undergraduates. Humphrey painted the murals in a former faculty dining facility known as Hovey Grill, located in the basement of the former Thayer Dining Hall, now known as the Class of 1953 Commons.

The murals have been criticized in the past for their depiction of Native American men and women, some of whom are portrayed in a half-naked state. One of the women is depicted as reading Wheelock’s copy of “Gradus ad Parnassum” upside down.

In the early 1970s, College President John Kemeny’s re-commitment to the College’s mission to educating Native Americans, as well as the coeducation of the College, led to student protests and increased criticism over the content of the murals. In 1979, the room that housed the murals was closed following further protests from the student body.

Four years later, the murals were covered up with removable panels. Currently, they are closed to the general public and can only be used for teaching purposes by faculty and the Hood Museum of Art. The Hovey Murals study group, co-chaired by deputy director of the Hood Museum Juliette Bianco ’94 and Native American studies professor N. Bruce Duthu ’80, deliberated through the spring and summer before providing interim provost David Kotz ’86 with a finalized report sometime in August, Kotz said. He then presented the report to senior members of the administration, and Hanlon ultimately decided to accept the group’s recommendation in early September, he added.

Before Hanlon’s decision was announced, Kotz also met with members of Native Americans at Dartmouth and the Native American Council to communicate the news to them personally. He also invited Native Americans at Dartmouth and the Native American Council to consider what they would like to do with the space, if anything, “in terms of a cleansing ceremony or the like,” Kotz said.

He remarked that the removal of the murals was likely to take place in December to “minimize disruption” in the College’s largest dining facility.

“The ultimate use of this space is yet to be decided,” Kotz said. “We’ll renovate it into something, but exactly what that will be is still an open question.”

Regarding the murals themselves, Kotz called them an integral part of the College’s history. Kotz added that as “ugly as [the murals] might be, and as embarrassing as they are as a part of our history,” that it was important that students, faculty and future scholars be able to understand and study the murals firsthand.

“I hope [their removal] brings a certain amount of healing to the communities that have found these

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THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

murals to be so offensive,” Kotz said.

“Although it’s certainly not solving the broader challenges that we face on campus or in society, I think it’s an important step in that direction, and I look forward to, personally anyway, doing anything I can to help make that as smooth and as effective as possible.”

Duthu said that in finalizing its decision, the study group considered the views of the various constituent groups they spoke with, which included members of the administration, alumni and students. Furthermore, the group consulted with an art conservator to determine the feasibility of moving the murals in the first place. The Hovey Murals are not pure murals, but rather painted canvases that have been glued to the walls.

According to Duthu, a few of the key considerations that the group also considered were continued access to the murals for “critical study,” the feasibility of removing the murals from their current locations and fixing any damage that may occur in the process, and the “longstanding sense of objection” that various community members had expressed over the murals.

As part of her work on the group, art history professor Mary Coffey, who was chosen to be on the committee based on her longtime study of the murals, said she primarily consulted with faculty members who had utilized the murals as teaching material, as well as members of the art history department. In talking with many of these faculty members, Coffey noted one area of concern: that the College would potentially whitewash its history.

“Their overriding concern was not that the murals stay in-situ, or that the murals were great art or that they needed to be around because they were part of Dartmouth’s history or tradition, but rather that they didn’t want their removal to be a mechanism for obliterating any kind of public memory of this part of the College’s history,” Coffey said.

Coffey said that while there has been longtime activism by Native students and faculty who have criticized the murals, the fate of the artwork ultimately rested with the College. She added that she viewed their removal as “an ethical decision about what kinds of statements” the College wanted to reinforce as an institution, believing it was important for the College to consider the murals in relation to its original charter, which called for the education of Native American youth.

Kotz convened the study group in the spring after receiving a letter from the executive board of Native Americans of Dartmouth. The other members of the group are former interim director of the Native American program Kianna Mist Burke ’12 A&S’19, Native Americans at Dartmouth members Brooke Hadley ’18 and Jennie Harlan ’20, Native American studies and environmental studies professor Nicholas Reo and Native American visiting council

member Anna Tsouhlarakis ’99.

Government professor Michelle Clarke was a member of the group during the spring term.

The basis of the murals, which depict the founding of the College, is a drinking song entitled “Eleazar Wheelock,” written by Richard Hovey, Class of 1885. The song, once a popular tune, has since been derecognized by the College. Hovey is best known for writing perhaps the most important song in the College’s oeuvre, “Men of Dartmouth,” now known simply as “Alma Mater.”

Humphrey painted the murals in response to José Clemente Orozco’s “The Epic of American Civilization,” a 24-part mural located in the basement of Baker Library painted between 1932 and 1934 and included scenes that “satirize[d] both academia and New England culture,” according to “The Hovey Murals at Dartmouth College.”

In 2013, Orozco’s mural was designated a National Historical Landmark.

Following outrage from a group of alumni led by Humphrey, who decried Orozco’s “strident Expressionistic aesthetic” among other things, thenCollege President Ernest Martin Hopkins accepted Humphrey’s petition to paint a “real Dartmouth mural,” according to “The Hovey Murals at Dartmouth College.” Hopkins nonetheless defended Orozco’s work “on the basis of its ability to catalyze liberal debate.”

In the early 1990s, the College considered converting the former Hovey Grill into an art gallery that would display the murals following a recommendation from the Native American Council. The gallery would feature a “didactic program” that would explain “why the mural’s portrayal of women and Indians” was offensive to various campus communities, according to “The Hovey Murals at Dartmouth College.”

“The students on the committee soon decided that they did not want to perform this task — they found the mural deeply offensive and were not comfortable writing about or otherwise addressing it,” Hood Museum of Art senior curator Katherine Hart wrote in the book. “As a consequence, the idea of reopening the room was, for the time, abandoned.”

Since then, the murals have been the subject of multiple study groups.

In 2006, when Thayer Dining Hall was facing demolition, former director of the Hood Museum of Art Brian Kennedy said that a committee formed under the direction of the Provost’s Office was tasked with determining the best method for removing and preserving the murals. However, once plans to demolish Thayer Dining Hall were rendered obsolete, a committee of advisors recommended that former College President Jim Yong Kim convert the former Hovey Grill into a study room to be used by Dartmouth classes under the direction of professors and Hood Museum educators.

Traditions change for town safety measures

“It doesn’t make reasonable sense in a lot of ways, if you ask most that was charged with the redesign people,” he said. Dennis added that he began their work by taking a critical had an outside perspective coming to look at the fundamental culture Hanover and recognized the danger of the weekend. They worked to with “outside eyes that haven’t been maintain the important aspects, here for years and years.”

Leah Ryu ’22 said some members while “reign[ing] in a little bit of the unsafe behavior that’s crept into [the of her class are talking about protesting the change by refusing to Homecoming tradition].”

Van Citters said the core culture show up to the event.

“People are really mad about of the event was one of celebration and community, and that the new it,” Ryu said, adding that her upperclassmen friends have told her design will emphasize these values.

“What I think most of the to run around and touch the fire. attendees will see, is an event that is Some have even offered to pay her even more community oriented,” he bail.

Griffin noted she was frustrated said.

Reshma Rajasingh ’22, however, by negative interactions between H a n ove r Po l i c e is disappointed and students, she won’t be able “Hats off to the and expressed to partake in the College and a that the negative tradition of running committee that homecoming around the fire. traditions put “A b i g p a r t worked hard all f i re f i g h t e r s a n d of coming to police in as much Dartmouth is how summer, and danger as students. heavily traditions fingers crossed Montás said that are valued here, so that it goes much people have been it sucks being the first hurt, and some have class not being able more smoothly even been taken to a to be part of [the from a safety burn unit in Boston tradition],” she said. in previous years.

Maddy Omrod standpoint.”

“It is a raging fire. ’19 said running It is extremely hot,” around the fire -JULIA GRIFFIN, he said. was one of the first Dennis added moments she felt she HANOVER TOWN that the “hazing, belonged here.

MANAGER or the pressure “[Freshman fall is put on first-year a] really hard term, students to go in and and for me, running [touch the fire] by around that fire and looking at all my classmates was the upperclassman,” adds to the danger one moment where I was like holy of the situation.

Rajasingh said she believes sh— I’m at Dartmouth. I’m actually here, and I actually want to be here, members of her class will still attempt and I’m part of something bigger than to run around and touch the fire.

“People have done everything myself,” she said. “I really want the ’22s to get that, and it makes me sad they’ve been told not to do,” she said, noting that people in past years have that they won’t.”

Griffin noted that she didn’t want touched the fire despite facing fines the town to be “party to something and suspension.

Montás said that in past years, that’s risky,” adding that “we’d much rather be criticized for being nervous those that have touched the fire have Nellies than be criticized for someone faced suspension up to one year.

“I think the College has done getting killed.”

Griffin said Fire Chief Marty a good job of trying to put some McMillen has expressed concern for parameters in place to make it a safer years regarding the fire’s tendency to event, reduce some of those risky collapse outward. Each log weighs 70 behaviors that are maybe causing to 80 pounds and would be deadly some of those issues, and kind of if it were to fall on anyone from any redefine that focus in creating an environment that will be safe for all height, even if it were not on fire.

Hanover Police Chief Charlie to enjoy,” Dennis said.

Griffin echoed this sentiment, Dennis noted that students who run inside the collapse zone in order saying she was “impressed” by to attempt to touch the fire put the amount of work done by the themselves and safety officers in committee.

“Hats off to the College and a danger.

Dennis said that both he and the committee that worked hard all fire chief, both of whom arrived in summer, and fingers crossed that it 2014, have had concerns about the goes much more smoothly from a safety standpoint,” she said. bonfire since their arrival.

FROM BONFIRE PAGE 3

PAGE 6

DARTMOUTHEVENTS

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

CAROLINE COOK ’21

TODAY

8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Breakfast with the Arts, with history professor Annelise Orleck and photographer Liz Cooke, Nearburg Gallery, Black Family Visual Arts Center

4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Lecture: “Fiction and Thought-Experiments,” with Dr. Tasneem Zehra Husain, sponsored by the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement, Carpenter Hall 13

7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Performance: “Music Without Borders,” with Sphinx Virtuosi, Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts

TOMORROW

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Vaughan Recital Series, with cellist Wayne Smith and pianist Gregory Hayes, Faulkner Recital Hall

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

Lecture: “Who Is Vladimir Putin?” with author Philip Short, Kreindler Conference Hall, Haldeman Center

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Lecture: “A ‘Little’ Round-up in Provence: French Anti-Semitism and WWII,” with University of Paris-Nanterre emeritus professor Nelcya Delanoë, Carson L02

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

PAGE 7

New art exhibit “The Booth” shines spotlight on student art

MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The current phone booths line the wall across from the Hinman Mail Center.

By FLORIDA HUFF

Booth.

“The Hopkins Center is an arts Across from the Hinman boxes center, and I thought there was an in the Hopkins Center for the Arts opportunity to have some more art stand a pair of twin phone booths, in the building,” she said.

With the repurposing of the phone which have remained out of service booths, Fiore and neglected for envisioned years. According “We have access to what she to student curator described as Jamie Park ‘20, so many cool artists. a “studentthis fall, the booths But there’s definitely curated space will be repurposed that could be into a student art less of a venue for used to show exhibit titled The students to show their student art Booth, shining artwork.” in a sort of a spotlight on f u n k y, k i n d student artwork in a space that more -JAMIE PARK ’20, STUDENT of interesting w a y. ” Pa r k often highlights added that t h e w o r k o f CURATOR The Booth visiting artists. brings student H o p k i n s art to the Center donor relations officer Sherry Fiore said forefront in a space that generally that student interest for a place to does not provide students, especially display their artwork and alumni non-studio art majors, opportunities support for student art projects to display their artwork. Senior helped her develop the idea for The seminar shows and class-related The Dartmouth

exhibits open doors for students to theme. of The Booth and photography showcase their art, but the Hopkins on the right.

“I like to make Center tends to favor the work of sure that different Wa n g w i l l visiting artists over that of students, m e d i u m s a r e “I like to make sure d i s p l ay two Park said. i n t r o d u c e d that different mediums self-portraits, “We have access to so many between the two a few still lifes are introduced cool artists,” Park said.“But there’s b o o t h s, ” Pa rk and a figure definitely less of a venue for students said, describing between the two drawing. to show their artwork.”

“There’s a h e r c u r a t i o n booths. I get their Eric Wang ’20, one of this term’s p r o c e s s . “ I strong focus featured artists, exemplifies this lack get their work work and I put it up on markof opportunity; although he has and I put it up unofficially … and then m a k i n g , ” exhibited artwork in the hallways of unofficially …

Wa n g s a i d , the Black Family Visual Arts Center, and then I pair I pair it with another refer ring to he has never showcased any pieces in it with another artist whose work the theme the Hopkins Center, which he said artist whose work contrasts with that Park curated “isn’t very good about” displaying contrasts with from his body student art. of work. that work well work well enough so Through expanding access to enough so that that both can stand T h e student art displays within the both can stand upcoming out.”

Hopkins Center, The Booth creates out.” ex h i b i t , a space “where students’ work can centered Although be celebrated and receive some the size of the -JAMIE PARK ’20, STUDENT around this attention,” Wang said. “I hope to see p h o n e b o o t h s t h e m e, w i l l student work permeate other parts may appear to open in a few of campus weeks, and as well,” he restrict the types of artwork by two artists will be “It’s not going to be a added. artwork available to exhibited bi-termly starting in the I n big time commitment showcase, Park said winter term. According to Park, curating the dimensions of students can reach out to Park to to come and see [the The Booth, The Booth have not inquire about displaying their art in Park wants exhibit]. As you’re been an issue so far. The Booth during successive terms. to diversify walking by, you can Regarding future development “It seems like a the number tiny space, which it of The Booth, Fiore said she hopes of people interact with it and is,” Park said. “[But] that it will eventually feature a a n d t h e keep going.” a lot of big ger multimedia element, show-casing types of pieces do fit in there artwork with video or audio pieces, people who because there’s a which would broaden the diversity h a v e t h e -SHERRY FIORE, HOPKINS lot more wall space of the mediums on display. privilege to CENTER DONOR Park expressed high hopes for than I think people display their The Booth’s long-term future as imagined.”

RELATIONS artwork.

According to well.

“A l o t “I hope that this continues,” she Park, this ter m’s of the exhibit will feature said. “I think this is a wonderful times, people of underprivileged pastels and oil paints on the left side space.” communities are the ones that are underserved in having the opportunities to show their artwork,” she said. “That’s kind of who I want to give these opportunities to.”

Fiore added that the central location of The Booth, an area heavily traversed by students accessing their mail or dining at Courtyard Café, helps cultivate a unique, more informal gallery experience for viewers.

“It’s not going to be a big time commitment to come and see,” Fiore said. “As you’re walking by, you can interact with it and keep going.”

Wang agreed, emphasizing that “people walk through that hallway all the time … I’m sure it’s very easy to stop and take a look, even for just a few seconds.”

Last fall, Fiore reached out to Park, a studio art major, to curate the new exhibit. As student curator, Park said she manages the development of the project: lining up student artists, documenting the exhibits and figuring out how to mount, frame and position the artwork. After looking at a student’s portfolio of work, Park selects pieces that work well together, conveying a certain

PAGE 8

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

Review: ‘Sorry to Bother You’ is an insane, surrealistic ride

By JOYCE LEE

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

There’s crazy, there’s satire, there’s dystopian and then there’s “Sorry to Bother You.” Musician Boots Riley’s 2018 directorial debut takes place in an alternate universe’s Oakland — but don’t let the term “alternate universe” fool you. The film is a funhouse mirror for our world that only reflects everything going on in our reality.

In this Oakland, where eye-popping ads for a mysterious, monolithic Silicon Valley-esque company called WorryFree litter the background of every scene, a man named Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) becomes a telemarketer for a corporation called RegalView. Green, who lives in his uncle’s garage with his performance artist girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson), stumbles his way through the job until an older coworker, Langston (Danny Glover), tells him to use his white voice. That, voila, is the key to being good at his job.

Despite underlying tremors among the other telemarketers, who are attempting to organize a strike for increased pay under the leadership of

labor activist Squeeze (Steven Yeun), Cassius finds that he’s very, very good at selling products to people with his white voice (David Cross). He’s so good that he gets promoted to the previously ephemeral role of “Power Caller” and rides up a literal golden elevator from the basement cubicles to a pristine open office space. As he excels in his new role, Cassius’s talent at using his white voice catches the attention of Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), who asks him to perform a disturbing role in a new project that redefines what it means to be part of a labor economy.

The science fiction of this sci-fi satire doesn’t really emerge until the second half of the film, but Riley is stunningly adept at using coloring and scene transitions to make the world feel slightly askew, the same way a “Black Mirror” episode resembles our world in an uncanny way. There’s an element of chaos in every scene, especially toward the beginning of the film, even if the chaos has nothing to do with the plot.

In one striking shot, the camera centers Cassius in the foreground of the frame, while in a room in the background, a copier apparently malfunctions and

starts shooting paper at the poor people trying to fix the machine. The result is a look at Cassius’s mind, overwhelmed and unprepared for the job and everything else that’s about to come as a result of his new role.

World-building is a task easier said thandone;thefilmmakersimultaneously has to include enough details to make the world feel real without overwhelming the audience with unnecessary information.

For a first time director, Riley walks this balance skillfully by adding in violent TV programs, nausea-inducing advertisements and glimpses of tents littering a city sidewalk without explicitly addressing how these details might have come to be. With these details, he creates a world that operates as a skewering critique of gentrification, the gig economy and deteriorating race relations. It all culminates in Cassius facing a largely apathetic, affluent white crowd at Steve’s party and “rapping” for them using a racial slur, only for them to respond enthusiastically and repeat the slur back at him.

This scene is pivotal, as he performs his blackness and the inherent violence, oppression and poverty that is associated

with it. Unlike in the earlier scenes, when he uses a white voice to appease clients over the phone, Cassius is required to produce a fetishized version of himself as a black man because this is what is required to satisfy the CEO of WorryFree. Ultimately, whether he is wanted as a white man or a black man, Cassius is left devoid of any complexity or nuance as an individual, and the viewer sees him after his rap performance utterly drained, as if his life was sucked out of him.

While the film is masterclass in skewering various societal issues with razor sharp observations, there is still one issue “Sorry to Bother You” isn’t able to address with as much precision.

Cassius’s girlfriend Detroit is only one of two female characters who are named in the main cast, and despite being an intriguing and colorful character in her own right, she’s ultimately left to function relative only to the various male characters of the film. One might think she acts as Cassius’s foil, as the radical activist girlfriend who is also part of a secret resistance group against WorryFree — but that role is fulfilled by Yeun’s character Squeeze, who actually

ends up romantically tied to Detroit later in the film. Her role, instead, is as Cassius’s heart and conscience, as the link to the world of struggle that Cassius turned his back on once he was promoted. She’s ultimately unable to exist outside of this function; a critical scene centering around her and her art turns into scene where Cassius berates her for performing something “crazy,” a statement that we, the audience, end up agreeing with.

“Sorry to Bother You” has a development in its second act that seems so outrageous that it almost threatens to drag the film down into camp territory — but it instead raises the stakes for all of the issues the film has addressed in the first half, so that they become questions of human existence. Literally, the film asks what it means to be human, as well as what happens if that humanity is stripped away from us. What does it mean to want everything Cassius wants, while also knowing that these desires come at a crucial cost to others and ultimately to ourselves? Hopefully, we don’t have to live in Cassius’s world to find out.

Review: ‘Venom’ is not worth the $15 ticket, unfortunately

By JAMES CRONIN The Dartmouth

When I was eight years old, I begged my mom for weeks to let me see “Iron Man.” I remember the excitement I felt when she finally relented and said yes.

I saw it opening weekend, and it was everything I dreamed of and more. That moment began a 10-year love affair with superhero movies that, while tested at times, is still going strong. “Venom” is one such movie that tests that love.

I don’t think I could think of a better example of wasted potential than this movie. The character of Venom is one of the coolest anti-heroes in all of Marvel comics; he’s a combination of an alien parasite and a human who are united by their hatred for Spider-Man, making for one of Spider-Man’s most formidable foes. With that being said, it should not be hard to make a good movie about the guy, yet this movie makes several mistakes that holds the character’s potential back. First, and most obviously, this movie is rated PG-13. For those who aren’t familiar with the character, Venom eats people and thus has quite a liberal view on murder. He is, or should be, a horrifying character, one that lends himself very well to an R rating and no

less. If Sony, the producers of “Venom,” known for other cinematic disasters such as 2015’s “Fantastic Four” and 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” were interested in making this movie good, they wouldn’t have stuck to the PG-13 rating, which isn’t faithful to the original character. A PG-13 rating meant that the violence, the first thing that most fans automatically think of when they think “Venom,” had to be toned down significantly and that most of the jokes had to be made more family-friendly.

Those aren’t always bad things, but there are already so many family-friendly superhero movies in the market at the moment.

Secondly, Spider-Man is nowhere to be found in this movie. Venom as a character can’t really exist properly without Spider-Man because Venom’s origin story is deeply intertwined with Spider-Man. In the comics, both Venom’s human counterpart Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote have a grudge against Spider-Man, resulting in their alliance against him. However, since Spider-Man is now a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony was forced to create an entirely new origin story — a much blander and incredibly generic one— for Venom,

where Venom and Spider-Man find each other in a way that neither gives satisfaction or exposes depth to the characters’ motives. Wihout SpiderMan’s role, Venom is stripped of much of his charm and complexity.

However, to be fair, there are a few positive aspects to the film. For one, Tom Hardy’s performance as Eddie Brock is easily the best part of the movie.

The internal dialogue between the two that no one else but Eddie Brock can hear is very well done: the symbiote’s absurd thoughts combined with Eddie’s confused reactions often resulted in some of the funniest moments in the movie. Also, Hardy acting as a man who learns to share his body with a malicious alien entity is fairly entertaining as he conveys the sense of confusion and horror in a humorous and fairly realistic way. If you’ve seen “Upgrade,” a film where Tom Hardy lookalike Logan Marshall-Green’s body is taken over by an A.I. that allows him to have superpowers, you just might experience some minor déjà-vu. Finally, despite the constraints of a PG-13 rating, heavy reliance on CGI, choppy editing and poor lighting, one or two of the action scenes were fairly well-executed.

While my review is fairly damning, I

will admit that Venom is a moderately entertaining movie. Similar to “Suicide Squad” or any of the “Transformers “movies, “Venom” can be categorized as a guilty pleasure movie; in other words, a bad movie but one that is still entertaining purely by virtue of pandering to the audience and giving them what they want: big, dumb CGI battles, explosions, easy jokes, etc.

However, the film only just barely deserves to be put into this category because, as entertaining as CGI battles and magically appearing explosions are, “Venom” still managed to be boring.

It’s impossible to care for any of the characters in this movie since they’re all so one-dimensional. Once Tom Hardy gets over his initial alarm of being bonded with an alien parasite, there is no further character development for Eddie Brock. Hardy and Michelle Williams, who plays Anne Weying, Brock’s ex-girlfriend, have zero onscreen chemistry, creating even more audience apathy for the characters or what they are doing and why. The worst offender in the movie is the villain Carlton Drake, portrayed by Riz Ahmed, a shady C.E.O. who believes that combining symbiotes with humans will usher in the next great era of human

civilization. The evil businessman villain trope has been done so many times in superhero movies that, at this point, even if the script for this movie wasn’t as wooden, generic and predictable as it was, it would have been very difficult to make this character unique or nuanced in any way. Ahmed’s performance was solid, but there’s only so much you can do when a screenplay is this bad.

To conclude, “Venom” is a poorly written, CGI-heavy, corporate sell-out of a film. A few moments will keep you entertained, but on the whole, you’ll just keep looking at your watch to see how much of the one hour and fiftytwo minutes is left. So far, “Venom” has grossed over $205 million worldwide. It is without a doubt a smash hit, which is an issue because when a movie this poor makes so much money, it only incentivizes studios to keep producing and releasing garbage movies. “Venom” is, at best, a rainy Sunday movie you watch while you flick through the channels because nothing else good is on. I can’t condone paying fifteen dollars to see this movie, especially if that means you’re supporting the equally horrible sequel they’ll probably make in two years.