The Dartmouth 11/7/2019

VOL. CLXXVI NO. 98

RAINY HIGH 43 LOW 25

OPINION

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: STILL NORTH BOOKS PAGE 6

AHSAN: HAGGLING WITH A HURRICANE PAGE 6

SCHNEIDER: ONLY FOR DEMOCRATS? THAT’S THE PROBLEM PAGE 7

LEVY: STOP HATING ON BIG PHARMA PAGE 7

ARTS

RUDE MECHANICALS ADD LGBTQIA+ TWIST TO ‘ROMEO AND JULIET’ PAGE 8

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

College sees changes Hanlon talks finances, renovations in sexual misconduct in “State of the College” address policy following lawsuit

B y AMBER BHUTTA The Dartmouth

With the $14 million settlement of a federal class action lawsuit accusing the College of failing for years to act on allegations of sexual misconduct against three former psychological and brain sciences professors pending court approval, the lawsuit has spurred a number of both direct and indirect changes on campus to prevent similar incidents in the future.

In the settlement agreement,

the College explicitly agreed to bolster a variety of efforts to prevent future misconduct. For faculty members, Dartmouth has committed to expand the use of the provost’s diversity recruitment fund to support the hiring of faculty who have experience in gender-based discrimination and violence.

The College also pledged to add two additional members to the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative’s eternal advisory committee who SEE POLICY CHANGES PAGE 5

Consortium on race, sexuality launches B y CAITLIN MCCARTHY The Dartmouth

The Consortium of Studies in Race, Migration, and Sexuality made its debut this ter m with a launch reception in October in Sanborn Library and two events. Directed by women’s, gender, and sexuality studies professor Eng-Beng Lim, the consortium works to create new interdisciplinary relationships on campus.

Lim wrote in an email

statement that the consortium serves as a place for interdisciplinary study.

“It is important to me that Dartmouth supports a vibrant intellectual and creative environment where scholars and students of color as well as queer scholars and students not only thrive, but are leading national conversations [on these topics],” Lim wrote.

“Instead of it being ...

SEE RMS PAGE 3

JIN LEE/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Hanlon, pictured here in 2015, gave the annual “State of the College” speech on Monday.

B y LEANDRO GIGLIO The Dartmouth

On Monday, College President Phil Hanlon delivered his annual “State of the College” address in the Grand Ballroom at the Hanover Inn. The purpose of his speech was to discuss the current position of the College and its trajectory over the past few years.

In his address, Hanlon discussed a wide range of topics, including efforts to expand the team of admissions officers, financial sustainability, environmental projects, improvements to the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative and research by faculty members.

“The external recognition

of your impressive accomplishments in this realm have been accelerating during my time as president,” Hanlon said when recognizing faculty contributions.

Among the professors that Hanlon recognized were economics professor Ellen Meara, who was recently elected to the National Academy of Medicine; engineering professor Fridon Schubitidze, who earned the Presidential Medal of Honor from the country of Georgia; and anthropology professor Sienna Craig, who was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018 for her book, “The Ends of Kinship.”

In addition to recognizing faculty contributions, Hanlon

spoke about the tuition costs that students and families pay, comparing the affordability of Dartmouth to other Ivy League colleges and other peer institutions.

“We have contained tuition growth over these past six years to the lowest six-year percentage increase since the 1950s,” Hanlon said. “In doing so, Dartmouth has dropped from the second-most expensive in the Ivy-plus group when I arrived, to the eighth-most expensive today.”

Hanlon also talked about the ongoing construction of other facilities across campus, which he said would enable better accommodations for students, SEE STATE OF COLLEGE PAGE 3

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

New interdisciplinary Russia FSP seeking final College approval B y DEBBY COBON The Dartmouth

Through the collaboration of faculty from the Russian and government departments, the Guarini Institute for International Education and the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, Dartmouth students may have the opportunity to participate in an interdisciplinary study abroad in Russia through a new foreign study program by the summer of 2020.

Irving Institute academic director Amanda Graham said that this new FSP has been in the works for over a year and is a proposal that is currently under review and contingent on final approval by the College.

“We have been working together for over a year to develop the program concept, which integrates the study of Russian language and civilization, government and energy systems,” Graham said.

The team behind this new proposal includes Graham, Russian professors Ainsley Morse and Mikhail Gronas, government professor Joseph Bafumi, Guarini Institute executive director John Tansey and Guarini Institute associate director Francine A’Ness.

Dartmouth has offered FSPs where two closely-linked departments have worked together, such as the joint FSP between the Asian, societies, cultures and languages department and the women, gender, and sexuality studies department in Hyderabad, India and the joint program in Auckland, New Zealand between the linguistics and anthropology departments. However, this would be the first program where three “virtually independent divisions” come together, according to Gronas.

Gronas said that the team hopes this program will appeal to any student who is interested in Russian language and culture, international politics, international business, environmental science, Eurasian resources and the Arctic.

According to Tansey, the program

would run for just over 10 weeks from mid-June to the end of August.

For the first eight weeks, between 25 to 30 selected students will stay six weeks in Moscow and two weeks in St. Petersburg while taking a variety of courses in collaboration with the Higher School of Economics. The final two weeks will involve traveling via the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Moscow to Siberia, including stops in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk, where students will fly back to Moscow.

The program will include three distinct tracks and applications for students either interested in Russian language, government and politics, or energy and society, according to Bafumi.

For students interested in applying to the Russian language track, they will be required to complete the first-year language sequence. While details are still being finalized for the other two tracks, students on the government track will likely have to have completed an introductory government course.

All accepted students, however, will have to attend a weekly seminar to learn “survival Russian” including the Russian alphabet, some Russian culture and information on how to navigate Russia as a country. Requirements may become more stringent with development of the program, Bafumi added.

Discussion of the proposal first began with consideration of students’ most popular expressed interests.

Government is one of the most popular majors at Dartmouth and, as of now, only two abroad programs are offered — a domestic study program in Washington, D.C. and an FSP in London. Bafumi, when approached with the idea of a joint program, said it made a lot of sense for the government department to have an off-campus program in a part of the world that is very different.

“Right now, we only run two programs in the English-speaking developed world of democracies,

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OLYMPIA NAGEL-CALAND/THE DARTMOUTH

The government department, housed in Silsby Hall, has helped create the proposed FSP.

and we have a great contingent of international relations faculty, comparative politics faculty and even political theorists with a strong interest in Russia,” Bafumi said. “Government students are particularly interested in Russia because it has become a major world player, in many ways, including the election interference and its relationships with Syria and Ukraine.

It’s beginning to shape foreign policy and have a real impact on domestic policies.”

While the government department’s London FSP has been one of Dartmouth’s most competitive study abroad programs, the number of students enrolled in the Russian language study abroad has declined in recent years, according to Tansey.

Because of this, Morse and Gronas wanted to expand upon programs currently offered by the Russian department in the hopes of attracting more students. Gronas said he witnessed a growing trend of students double majoring with the Russian major — often pairing it with government or economics — so the collaboration was sensible.

“We’ve been running one of the oldest programs in the country in St. Petersburg,” Gronas said. “That program is just focused on one city, and it’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but we felt that we needed

to expand beyond just going to the cultural, political and business capitals of the western belt of Russia.”

He noted that one planned stop is Kazan, a city in the Muslim-majority Republic of Tatarstan.

“We often don’t think of Russia as a Muslim country, but actually it’s one of the nations with the greatest number of practicing Muslims,” Gronas said.

Morse said she hopes that this program will help students understand the diversity of what Russia has to offer beyond its Western cities due to its more interactive nature, and expects the program will be approved by this upcoming winter when applications would open for the 2020 summer pilot program.

“Even just in terms of the selected institution, our students will have their own classes and their own course plan, but they will be studying in the same place as Russian students,” Morse said.

She contrasted this with the current Russian study abroad in St. Petersburg, which places Dartmouth students in a university with other international students.

The curricula and itinerary for the program is still being developed.

“We’re not taking courses that are already offered at Dartmouth and bringing them abroad; instead, we’re creating new curricula and new syllabi for each track,” Gronas said. “In Russia,

too, they’re creating new academic content adjusted for Dartmouth students.”

Morse said the team is also hoping to incorporate successful aspects of similar programs at other universities. He cited as an example one study abroad program at the University of New Hampshire that studies indigenous culture in Siberia.

“We talked with a colleague last week who runs a study abroad program at the University of New Hampshire that has a strong Siberian component,” Morse said. “One of the things they discussed is indigenous cultures in Siberia, which is huge, but something we don’t have as a focused part of our curriculum right now. However, we do expect to touch upon indigenous cultures in Russia and do a trip to a rural village in Buddhist Buryatia.”

Bafumi said he was hopeful about the program’s success and envisions it as a way for students to gain a better understanding of the United StatesRussia relationship.

“It’s looking like it’ll be a really good program for students and will help us increase our understanding of Russia’s and the United States’s relationship,” Bafumi said. “That may be an important thing in a world where we seem to be more suspicious of one another once again, as we were years ago during the Cold War.”

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

PAGE 3

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Hanlon says College finances have strengthened over past six years FROM STATE OF COLLEGE PAGE 1

faculty and staff.

In his speech, Hanlon referenced the set of infrastructural challenges the College faced when he first assumed office in 2013. He recalled that “critical buildings,” such as Dartmouth Row, the Hopkins Center and many residential halls were aging.

Additionally, he mentioned that many of the College’s 35 athletic teams were “crammed into Leverone Field House,” and that the power plant continued to burn fuel oil, while the College’s steam tunnels were deteriorating.

However, Hanlon said that some of these challenges have been addressed through the renovation of Dana Hall, which, upon completion, will be followed by the renovation of Dartmouth Hall; the construction of the Indoor Practice Facility, which will be complete by early next year; and

the replacement of the steam tunnels with a hot water delivery system.

The financial sustainability of the College was also one of the focal points of Hanlon’s speech, which culminated with his announcement of the Dartmouth Budget Project, which he described as a “concentrated effort to develop recommendations for our campus in three areas.”

Hanlon outlined the three areas as discovering new ways to generate new net revenues, re-thinking the College’s cost base and finding more ways to engage with the campus by keeping the community informed of the College’s progress.

“The Dartmouth Budget Project is about anticipating the challenges ahead and preparing to adapt accordingly,” Hanlon said.

In an interview with The Dartmouth after Hanlon’s speech, sustainability director Rosalie Kerr ’98 discussed programs the office is working on with

regard to environmental sustainability, which Hanlon also mentioned in his speech.

“The sustainability office is really expanding its programs for students interested in environment, as well as for the College at-large,” Kerr said. “Focus on sustainability by giving students hands-on experience is one of the best ways to motivate the community.”

She also discussed how internship opportunities have provided a broader scope for students to have a real understanding of sustainability.

“For example, we support sustainable learning in the form of going to and researching in the organic farms; internships in all ways for sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as a first-year program for students to pursue environmental understanding,” Kerr said.

The Dartmouth Green Energy project is also an essential part of the sustainability project that Kerr

discussed.

“This project is a $200 million initiative in hopes to change the way Dartmouth deals with sustainability,” Kerr said. “By building new heating facilities and distributing hot water in a more environmentally conscious way, Dartmouth can achieve its promise.”

In addition to Kerr, Melissa Weinstein, communications manager at the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, gave insights about the roles of the new institute in achieving sustainability at the College in an interview with The Dartmouth after Hanlon’s speech.

“Our mission really is to help change the world and make the world a better place, by helping to teach students and bring people together to create pathways towards the future where energy is affordable, sustainable and reliable,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein also discussed the mission of the Institute by elaborating on the

programs the Irving Institute offers.

“We have a vision in the education space, which we engage with Dartmouth students, both in the undergraduate and graduate level,” Weinstein said. “On the research side of things, we started with small number of faculty that helps us to jump into energy in a multidisciplinary way across academic departments, because we can work more creatively with the idea of energy.”

Hanlon ended his speech on an optimistic note, emphasizing the current financial position of the College.

“As a campus, we have achieved so much over the past six years to strengthen our finances,” Hanlon said. “And I’m confident that if we stay focused on the challenges ahead, we will take the steps necessary to keep us financially strong and with the resources we need to invest in excellence in the years ahead.”

Consortium seeks creation of race, migration and sexuality minor FROM RMS PAGE 1

demand from students and from faculty over many years, the reason it now is an actual thing, has everything to do with Professor Lim putting together the kind of proposals, doing the intense groundwork to look at similar programs at other campuses,” said history professor Bethany Moreton, a founding member of the consortium.

She also credited the work of Dennis Washburn, associate dean of the faculty for interdisciplinary programs, as integral to the creation of the consortium.

“You have to have administrative buy-in for something to become official, and he’s been a real supporter,” Moreton said.

Moreton added that Lim worked to support Asian-American studies at Dartmouth before the idea for the consortium started to develop about two and a half years ago.

Latin American, Latino, and

C a r i bb e a n s t u d i e s p ro f e s s o r Matthew Garcia, another founding member, said that the program formed out of a desire to recreate the success of interdisciplinary fields at other universities. “[The] hope is that we will from this consortium generate not just ideas, but also research that can be supported by external grants,” Garcia said, adding that more outside support will help the consortium rise in prominence and match the accomplishments of similar organizations.

The consortium itself is made up of founding tenure-track and tenured faculty members, as well as faculty associates, according to Moreton. She added that the consortium also includes postdoctoral students who work at the College.

Undergraduate students are able to participate in the program as either an RMS Fellow or an undergraduate scholar. Fellows receive unique opportunities to

engage with the speakers that the consortium brings to campus, while scholars are encouraged to research topics in the field, according to the consortium’s website.

“One thing that I really appreciate about our cohort is that they are really willing to engage in dialogue,” said the consortium’s post-graduate fellow, Teresa J. Alvarado-Patlan ’19. She emphasized the current trial nature of the program and said she is excited for the further development of the program in the following terms.

Postdoctoral fellow Howie Tam, the consortium’s assistant director, said that the consortium’s work aligned with his interdisciplinary research interests in the literature of Vietnamese refugee writers in the U.S. and France. He added that the consortium, as a new initiative, is attempting to “[tap] into the people we already know” to host events. As the consortium gains more prominence, Tam hopes

to approach speakers that do not already have relationships with the members of the consortium.

Past events this ter m have included a performance by and discussion with the drag performer Sultana as well as a workshop event titled “How Have Borders Shaped ‘America’?” The event also included a discussion panel in which LALACS professor Jorge Cuéllar joined Brown University professor Monica Muñoz Martinez and University of Califor nia, Irvine Professor Vicki Ruiz. Garcia moderated the discussion, which he said focused on the “history of the border and how the border currently is shaping American thought and American policy.”

Tiffany Chang ’23, who is a fall RMS Fellow, said she appreciates the opportunities that the consortium opened to her. She said she enjoyed hearing the different perspectives at the “Borders” panel and getting to interview Sultana after the performance.

“I got to … really appreciate the generations of work it’s taken for Dartmouth to be able to get this far,” Chang said, describing the consortium’s launch party event.

One goal that the consortium is working on is creating a race, migration and sexuality minor or modified major. Other initiatives, according to the consortium’s website, include a podcast project as well as research pairings across faculty and student researchers.

L i m c re d i t e d D a r t m o u t h ’s desire for diversity as one of the main reasons why the program has garnered so much interest on campus thus far.

“There has been and continues to be so much interest on campus to see that we include diversity not only as a demographic or institutional ethic but also in intellectual and curricular terms, including our excellent research and range offerings in the humanities, social and hard sciences and the arts,” he wrote.

PAGE 4

DARTMOUTHEVENTS

THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

THE PARKAS ARE COMING

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

CASEY SMERCZYNSKI ’20

TODAY

11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Exhibit: “Strategic Master Plan Open House and Exhibit,” sponsored by Campus Services, Berry Library, Berry Main Hall.

4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Lecture: “In Conversation with Jake Sullivan,” with former director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department Jake Sullivan, sponsored by the Dickey Center, Haldeman Hall, Room 41.

4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Reading: “Moonbit,” with lecturer Rena Mosteirin ’07 and director of Institute of Writing and Rhetoric Jed Dobson, sponsored by the Leslie Center for the Humanities, Baker-Berry Library, East Reading Room.

TOMORROW

9:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Symposium: “Women on the Faculty: A Dartmouth Centennial Conference,” sponsored by the Russian Department, the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, and the 250th Anniversary, Goldstein Hall, Occom Commons.

8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

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

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

College expresses support for WISE FROM POLICY CHANGES PAGE 1

have no connection to Dartmouth.

The settlement also stipulated that members of the committee will also participate in a meeting with the plaintiffs so that they can recommend strategies and resources that are relevant to the C3I. Additionally, the settlement reaffirms Dartmouth’s support for WISE, an Upper Valley organization committed to ending gender-based violence. The settlement includes the consideration of adding additional WISE staff on campus or providing $500,000 to the organization over the course of five years.

In an interview with The Dartmouth, provost Joseph Helble commented on the efforts undertaken by the College.

In terms of indirect changes — in the wake of the lawsuit — in January, the College introduced C3I, which aims to, according to its stated purposes and goals, “create a more welcoming, inclusive, and equitable learning environment for all Dartmouth students, faculty, and staff.”

According to Helble, although C3I did not come as a direct response to the lawsuit, it was informed by “the behavior of the three professors that came to light before the lawsuit was filed,” as well as a report on sexual misconduct by a presidential steering committee and a report on sexual harassment of women by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

“The C3I is a whole series of actions that were taken as a campus that were meant to try and build a supporting environment where absolutely every student here is challenged, engaged and supported in their work, and the kind of behaviors that the lawsuit brought to light do not happen, or if they do, they are reported quickly, and we’re in a position to take action quickly,” Helble said.

One change intended to help achieve the goals and recommendations of C3I included the creation of a new, unified sexual misconduct policy intended to clarify

the College’s response to sexual misconduct that occurs within the Dartmouth community.

“The sexual misconduct policy was really meant to bring clarity to both policy and process,” Helble said.

“To have a single policy that applies to every member of the Dartmouth community: faculty, staff, students and visitors alike.”

The new policy includes a number of reforms, including the right of both parties to respond to questions posed by hearing panel and trained investigator, though the policy does not include a “live hearing.” The new policy was voted on and unanimously approved by the four faculties of the College before going into effect.

In addition to the new sexual misconduct policy, the College launched the Sexual Violence Prevention Project First-Year Experience. While SVPP itself was introduced in 2015 as a part of College President Phil Hanlon’s Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative, the Class of 2023 was the first to experience the new first-year programming. The firstyear experience program includes required online sexual violence prevention courses over the summer as well as workshops about healthy relationships and campus resources during the ter m. Additional sophomore, junior and senior programming is currently undergoing development and will eventually culminate into SVPP’s overarching goal of a four-year experience.

“SVPP is, of course, about training and prevention and helping all members of the community, but students in particular, be aware and advocates for one another in support of one another,” Helble said.

Though the final details will only be made available once the court approves the settlement, the College also pledged to increase its funding for WISE, an Upper Valley organization geared toward gender-based violence prevention and survivor advocacy.

“They provide a very important role in the Upper Valley community and a very important service to the campus,” Helble said. “Once the settlement is finalized, then we will

move forward with the conversations that need to take place to make this assessment and provide the resources that they need.”

WISE communications and development director Betsy Kohl declined to comment about the details of the settlement until the court approves the settlement.

While the College has taken many steps toward achieving the objectives of C3I, student and presidential committee on sexual assault executive chair Anne Pinkney ’20 explained that “there’s still a long way to go” to eliminate sexual violence and change campus culture.

“While we recognize that the College has reacted in certain ways to try to improve campus climate, we feel that the lawsuit should not be celebrated as something that is monumentally and fundamentally positive for changing Dartmouth overall,” Pinkney said. “Instead, it should be taken more at face value as what it is, which is a series of very violent occurrences that were enabled not only by the actions of individuals, but the culture of Dartmouth as a whole.”

To monitor the progress of these actions and initiatives and how they further the goals of C3I, the College has implemented an external advisory committee that will deliver annual reports to the Board of Trustees.

“Having open conversation and dialogue around these challenges and the issue of sexual misconduct and sexual assault is a hugely important part of the community moving forward and reducing and eventually eliminating sexual misconduct and sexual assault,” Helble said. “So I think the fact that we have changed our policy and our processes and the fact that we’re speaking about it much more openly, I think that is a hugely important step.”

The settlement for the PBS lawsuit is still under consideration by federal judge Landya McCafferty, who has expressed concern that the proposed settlement class is “too broad.” Last week, the plaintiffs submitted a briefing in support of approval for the proposed class settlement.

PAGE 5

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

ALLIE LEVY ’11

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST SAJID AHSAN ’20

Letter to the Editor: Still North Books

Haggling with a Hurricane

To the Editor, It is an honor that students are talking about Still North Books & Bar in advance of our December opening (“Opinion Asks: New Stores in Hanover,” 10/24/19). But the question of whether “businesses in town effectively cater to student needs” sets up a false dichotomy of student-focused versus community-focused. Student needs and community needs are not — and should not be — mutually exclusive.

When I was a student, downtown had more student-oriented businesses than it does today (R.I.P. Bagel Basement and Five Olde).

However, the town lacked spaces for students to come together with the community — beyond merely sitting in close proximity at a restaurant. Throughout the planning process, the Still North team has kept this need in mind — making design choices, selecting books, even choosing a name that I hope will appeal to both students and residents.

Hanover admittedly lacks some collegetown staples. However, the six-week winter interim makes it difficult for businesses to cater

DEBORA HYEMIN HAN, Editor-in-Chief

exclusively to students. Most retail businesses rely on the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s to carry them through the rest of the year. Thus, to focus solely on students would endanger any brick-and-mortar business, especially given Hanover’s high rents.

To answer the question of whether Still North will cater to students: absolutely. While at this time we are not able to fill the textbook gap left by Wheelock Books, we will be able to order most trade books used in courses. We will also offer student discounts and look forward to being a space for students — as well as the rest of the community — to gather.

Allie Levy ’11 is the Owner of Still North Books & Bar, a bookstore opening in Hanover later this year.

She is also a former Arts Editor of The Dartmouth.

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When it comes to climate change, bold action is pragmatic.

In the op-ed pages of our various papers of record and on cable news political talk shows, it’s not uncommon to see policies proposed by public figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) referred to as high-minded and aspirational, but ultimately not pragmatic. For political pundits, the concept of “pragmatism” serves as a useful cudgel to wield against those earnest public figures with the aim of effecting meaningful political change.

However, it is precisely this bold idealism that is necessary for effecting substantial, impactful change when it comes to tackling the climate crisis.

As is usually the case in the primary election season, the contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination have, one by one and, in varying levels of detail, released the framework of their climate change policy priorities. The vast majority of Democrats believe that human activity is driving rising temperatures, and many Democratic politicians are fond of offering up a snappy — if by now tired — line about how they “believe in science” when asked about the topic. It is a little bit confusing, then, that when CNN hosted a forum about the issue of climate change, an inordinate amount of time was dedicated simply to whether the climate policy proposals outlined by figures like Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) were pragmatic or simply too expensive. To be clear, no one is arguing that the “Green New Deal” is inexpensive; with an estimated cost of $16 trillion over 10 years, it’s one of the most ambitious policy programs in recent American history. An ambitious solution, however, is exactly what is required by a country and a planet facing a threat of unprecedented seriousness.

This is also not to say unequivocally that the policies outlined in plans like Sanders’ proposal or the Green New Deal proposals introduced

by Ocasio-Cortez and environmental groups like the Sunrise Movement are necessarily the best way to address the problem. Rather, the problem lies in the framing of the question itself — on the prioritization of the cost and false concerns about deficit spending over solving a crisis that threatens hundreds of millions of lives. It’s the content of the policies that should be debated, on the merits of whether they feasibly and adequately meet the challenge facing the country — informed by input from climate scientists and environmental advocacy groups.

This is, in fact, the “pragmatic” approach to

climate policy: not simply getting caught up in a preliminary sense of sticker shock and offering that up as an opportunity for more conservative and centrist politicians to paint policy advocates as unrealistic, wishful thinkers. Because of Dartmouth’s unique position as an Ivy League institution with considerable cultural and intellectual sway in New Hampshire (the state with the first primary in the nation), this college’s community has a responsibility to engage seriously and responsibly with the substance of issues like environmental and energy policy. And as members of a generation that will see drastic effects of global warming in their lifetime, the students whose votes the candidates regularly visit campus to gain bear that responsibility especially heavily.

A sufficient response to the climate crisis will, in all likelihood, require a fundamental restructuring of American life in many respects: the reshaping of transportation, the modernization of electrical grids, the end of factory farming, the development of clean energy infrastructure on a mass scale, the abolition of fossil fuel and, according to the Sanders plan, the municipalization of utilities.

Even military policy is dramatically affected by climate change; any political figure serious about the issue will have to address the fact that the U.S. military continues to be one of the biggest polluters and is the biggest institutional consumer of fossil fuels on the planet.

As a result, the progressive half of this country’s political ecosystem finds itself in a very strange position. Its leaders all profess that they take the problem of climate change seriously. The prevailing belief among much of the Democratic Party seems to be an expectation that climate change can be fixed without fundamental changes to the political and economic systems that brought the world to this point in the first place — that there won’t be a significant cost associated with policies of no less importance than snatching the world out from the jaws of impending catastrophe. For a social order to fail in considering its priorities such that scientists have to beg leaders to take action, and then to assume that the needed course correction will be easy and painless, is not a pragmatic idea.

It is, in the end, a question of seriousness; listening to interminable debates about whether “taxes will go up on the middle class” to pay for climate policy while the Amazon rainforest burns feels as absurd as watching someone try to negotiate with a hurricane.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

PAGE 7

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

GUEST COLUMNIST CHARLES SCHNEIDER ’22

STAFF COLUMNIST GABRIELLE LEVY ’22

Only for Democrats? That’s the Problem

Stop Hating on Big Pharma

Civic duty should not be conflated with student harassment.

Demonizing large drug comanies is a dangerous game.

Last year, I arrived on campus as an excited your right to do so. In fact, many of them were no freshman. A strong conservative with a wide longer interested in giving you common courtesy background in Republican campaigning, I leapt at — which, sometimes, was not enough. College the opportunity to challenge the hegemonic liberal Republicans chairman Daniel Bring ’21, after campus culture and grow the Republican Party mentioning he was a conservative Republican, here. I became involved with Dartmouth College was asked if he’d considering voting Democrat Republicans and was fortunate to be chosen as the “just this once.” He declined. organization’s secretary that fall. It was 2018, and At the time, the College Republicans were political groups on campus were gearing up for very aware of the tactics the College Democrats what would be a monumental midterm election were using. Understanding students’ privacy on cycle. The tactics used by these groups were varied, campus and the many complaints made about and I quickly realized that the Dartmouth College the College Democrats’ choices, we chose not Democrats were using a mixture between guerrilla to implement the same aggressive guerrilla marketing and harassment. campaigning. At our meetings, we reminded our An Oct. 24 column in The Dartmouth by members that Republicans are a minority on Sydney Allard ’21 criticized the College Democrats’ campus and that it is important to vote for that aggressive tactics during the 2018 election cycle. reason. We worked with our state and national Understandably, members of any student chapters to help out in any way we could. group seldom appreciate What Gunderson called such public and forthright a lack of action was not “Last fall, the College criticism. On Oct. 31, Gigi such. Rather, it was our Democrats and the Gunderson ’21, a former firm belief that ideas, not president of the College aggressive electioneering, Tom Steyer-funded Democrats, responded with be the basis of any liberal political action should her own column, defending electoral success. This was committee NextGen not the mindset of College the Democrats’ tactics and attacking the College Democrats going into the Rising took over the Republicans’ “seeming lack 2018 election, and dismissing campus, invading of action.” Unfortunately, the College Republicans in this is the exact reason self-righteous indignation every part of life at students on campus became does not solve this problem Dartmouth.” frustrated with the College — it exacerbates it and Democrats’ actions. further proves Allard’s point.

Last fall, the College Democrats and the Tom Having had a year to reflect on the College Steyer-funded liberal political action committee Democrats’ campaign style for the 2018 election, NextGen Rising took over the campus, invading I do not believe they intended to harm students every part of life at Dartmouth. Needed to study or the flow of campus. Rather, they wanted to at the library? They were there. Needed to go get Democrats elected — just as the College grab food? They were there, too. Even walking Republicans wanted to get Republicans elected. I around campus could cause you to be stopped agree with Gunderson that attending Dartmouth by the group and asked to “vote Democrat on is a “dream come true for any political junkie,” Nov. 6.” I don’t believe Allard overstated the and I also believe the “more people involved in deleterious effects of these actions. If anything, our democracy, the better.” Similar ends and she was understating them. objectives, however, do not necessitate similar Shortly after the College Democrats began means. harassing students at every turn, many began However many votes they might glean, avoiding places on campus they knew they politically active students should avoid tactics that would be stopped at. Several of my friends who aggressively inconvenience and annoy students are Democrats asked me if there was anything in the midst of stressful academic terms.

College Republicans could do to stop the College Charles Schneider ’22 is the vice chairman of the Democrats from blocking their entrance to ’53 Dartmouth College Republicans.

Commons. My answer was simple: Tell them The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns. We request you’re voting Republican. This simple solution that guest columns be the original work of the submitter. often worked well, because once the Democratic Submissions may be sent to both opinion@thedartmouth. advocates realized you were likely to vote against com and editor@thedartmouth.com. Submissions will their agenda, they were no longer interested in receive a response within three business days.

I recently participated in a class discussion only 14 percent of total U.S. health care about the propagandist nature of commercials spending. Because prescription drugs continue for prescription drugs. As I listened to my to comprise a relatively small part of overall classmates, I was struck by the predominance costs related to health, it seems unreasonable to of negative beliefs about the pharmaceutical attack the pharmaceutical industry for wasteful industry. After doing some research, I found spending. Instead, it makes more sense to focus that my classroom served as a representative on reducing wasted expenditures in other areas microcosm of American society — a recent study of the health care sector — such as administrative using a comparison of favorability ratings from and insurance costs — in order to reduce health U.S. citizens found that the pharmaceutical sector care costs for individual Americans. is the “most loathed” industry in the country.

Moreover, it is unfair to blame pharmaceutical In recent years, “Big Pharma” companies companies for wasting money as Big Pharma have gained a bad reputation for pill-pushing, companies shoulder the bulk of expenses for profit-seeking behavior that prioritizes financial drug development. Pharmaceutical and biotech gain over human lives. However, we shouldn’t companies are responsible for funding around be so quick to demonize Big Pharma. Contrary 75 percent of new drugs, with taxpayer-funded to popular belief, the industry is not inherently academic research funding only a small minority corrupt, and demonizing Big of new innovations. This Pharma opens the door to cost analysis is important, “In recent years, ‘Big as it gives tangible value harmful, non-scientific beliefs.

Many Americans take the to Big Pharma. Without Pharma’ companies biggest issue with the high price these companies, we have gained a bad points of prescription drugs, would not have many of subscribing to the widelythe drugs we rely on in our reputation for pillheld belief that Big Pharma everyday lives. pushing, profitis corrupt and wasteful. In Ignoring the seeking behavior that scientific necessity and terms of corruption, there have unfortunately been prioritzes financial gain advancements of Big numerous scandals that, Pharma and only focusing over human lives.” although they are exceptions on the problems of the to the norm, have tarred industry is not only shortthe pharmaceutical industry sighted, but dangerous, as a whole. For instance, almost everyone is as it provides an avenue for certain groups aware of Daraprim — the life-saving, parasite- to propagate their anti-scientific beliefs. For treating pill whose price was hiked up 5,000 instance, anti-vaccine activists latch on to percent thanks to the greedy former CEO of popular contempt for Big Pharma companies Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli. Fewer to promote conspiracy theories concerning the Americans are aware, though, that prescription safety of flu shots and other common, life-saving drug prices have remained constant in recent vaccines. Researchers have found that the most years, suggesting that we are not actually frequently occurring premise featured in antiexperiencing an epidemic of corrupt companies vaccine propaganda is that pharmaceutical hiking up drug prices. companies can’t be trusted. And, as we have seen It is important to remember that the majority in recent years, vaccine hesitancy is extremely of drugs are not priced maliciously, but instead, harmful to society as a whole in helping to drive in proportion to the amount of research that outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles went into their invention. Drug prices cannot be and mumps. lowered indefinitely, as profits from prescription As future members of the workforce, drugs must compensate for some of the costs policymakers and leaders, it is important that of drug development, which is an inherently college students avoid the temptation to write expensive endeavor. Indeed, a 2014 study by off prominent pharmaceutical companies as Tufts University found that the average approved inherently evil or corrupt. If we turn our backs modern drug costs over $2.5 billion to develop on the industry, we are both unjustly ignoring for the full product lifecycle. the positive benefits pharmaceutical companies Along with drug prices, spending on have on our society and opening the floodgates prescription drugs has also remained relatively for an escalation of anti-science beliefs in future constant. Today, prescription drugs comprise generations.

PAGE 8

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

Rude Mechanicals add LGBTQIA+ twist to ‘Romeo and Juliet’

B y Mia Russo The Dartmouth

Juliet calls from her balcony, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” These lines are recognized around the world. However, this time, the story is a little different. Imagine Juliet’s balcony as a modern apartment complex with a Pride parade running through the streets below, and her Romeo being a woman. This was the grounding idea for student-run theater group the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals’ production of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” last weekend.

“Romeo and Juliet” is often considered the greatest love story ever written. Filled with romance and comedy contrasting great tragedy and loss, the story has proved timeless.

However, this love story is often simplified, romanticized and taken for granted. In reality, Shakespeare crafted a complex yet heartbreaking play with themes that span centuries. Although the play has come to represent the pinnacle of stereotypical love stories, “Romeo and Juliet” features layers of dark themes including teenage suicide and parental disapproval.

Conor Roemer ’23 said that working on this production of “Romeo and Juliet” led him to gain a greater appreciation for the timelessness of Shakespeare and how his works can be applied to many settings and generations.

“The story was not just applicable when Shakespeare was alive — but you can really apply those themes to any time period,” Roemer said. “It shows the appeal of Shakespeare’s works; great literature tries to encompass timeless themes, and if you can have ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set during Pride in 2019, that is basically the epitome of that.”

A member of the Rude Mechanicals, Nathaniel Stornelli ’21 decided to direct “Romeo and Juliet” as the group’s student-directed Shakespeare play this term. However, to twist the traditional story, they decided to set it during Pride in Italy, with Romeo being a woman and gender swapping throughout.

According to Stornelli, the group, which is the only fully student-run theater group on campus, functions very differently from many other performance groups as they are a fully collaborative ensemble. All auditions are held in front of the entire group and casting is decided on collaboratively.

Stornelli said that the performance was a team effort, and it is this collaboration that made the show possible.

According to Stornelli, the group made a point during rehearsals to emphasize this collaboration and teamwork among the ensemble because they felt it was in these moments that the play would come together.

“Working with the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals is so great because I bring a lot of ideas to the table, but my cast has even more, and they do so many things that I would have never thought of,” Stornelli said. “I think that that kind of teamwork and that kind of building off of each other is really important.”

Roemer, who played Prince Escalus in the production, explained how the ensemble base allowed the cast and crew to explore very sensitive topics. “‘Romeo and Juliet’ is the type of play where you have to be able to work as a community to be able to showcase certain themes, because a lot of the themes that we deal with are tough to handle,” Roemer said.

“There are themes of suicide and family disapproval, and I think having a good strong community to showcase those themes makes the play stronger.”

Alex Wells ’22, who played Mercutio, discussed how mentally taxing the

rehearsal process was at times due to these sensitive topics.

“After scenes where there are hate crimes and deaths, we would take a moment to regroup before we moved on,” Wells said. “We generally avoided doing those scenes multiple times in one day just because it was very emotionally draining.”

Though dealt with elegantly with class and composure, the dark truth of “Romeo and Juliet” seemed more apparent in this portrayal than in other performances which might emphasize the typical love story associated with the play. With themes of familial disapproval and suicide in relation to the LGBTQIA+ community projected onto the classic love story, it took on a new form that was startlingly realistic and overwhelming.

“It’s easy to dismiss ‘Romeo and Juliet’ — it’s a story that we all know, it’s a story that gets taught in a way to explain how teens are young, impulsive and stupid. They think they know what love is but they don’t, and that gets them killed,” Stornelli said. “Especially after having directed it, I don’t think the story is about that at all. I think it’s a story about the tragedy of hatred and hatred being projected onto the youth, and the terrible things that that creates — the tragedy of teen violence and suicide.

I think by adding to it the element of closeted homosexuality, that only serves to make the text even richer and more relevant in the modern day.”

The play follows the same storyline as Shakespeare’s original text — however, there were many added twists and deleted segments that were incorporated to emphasize the LGBTQIA+ subplot. A romance between Benvolio and Mercutio was created as they experienced personal attacks and violence during Pride. The parental suppression of Juliet’s sexuality was exaggerated as she was forced into

marriage with a man, Paris.

The play closes after the deaths of Juliet, Romeo and Paris, punctuated with Benvolio’s heartbroken sobbing. It is this touch at the end that was the most jarring for the audience, emphasizing the emotional turmoil and real-life pain experienced around the world regarding suicide and death.

After viewing this production of “Romeo and Juliet,” the audience is left shaken with the heaviness of teenage suicide, specifically among the LGBTQIA+ community.

According to Stornelli, many members of the Rude Mechanicals identify as LGBTQIA+, and the discussion of relevant themes was important in their production of this

play.

Wells said that the troupe recognized the power of their platform and how they could use the production of “Romeo and Juliet” to spread a positive message about the importance of kindness, acceptance and empathy toward all people, especially those of marginalized communities.

“I hope the audience members view the play as an opportunity to be introspective about the ways that they interact with others,” Stornelli said. “I hope people walk away from the show thinking about the rates of violence and suicide among queer teens and thinking about what they can do to make the world more accepting and less violent.”

COURTESY OF NATHANIEL STORNELLI

The show’s Juliet, Skylar Miklus ’22, and Romeo, Gus Guszkowski ’22, pose together.