The Dartmouth 9/27/18

VOL. CLXXV NO. 70

PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 67 LOW 50

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

Hovey murals relocated

By THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Hovey Murals will move from the basement of the Class of 1953 Commons to an off-campus Hood Museum art storage facility. The decision follows the recommendation of a study group appointed in April after Native American at the College students sent a letter asking for something to be done about the murals.

The murals depict a drinking song in which Dartmouth’s founder introduces literature and rum to Native Americans in the wilderness. The four-panel mural, which also shows nude

OPINION

PAK: DAD’S LITTLE LESSONS

women, has drawn criticism from students and alumni alike.

“The derogatory images in the Hovey murals convey disturbing messages that are incompatible with Dartmouth’s mission and values,” President Phil Hanlon said in a press release.

The murals, which were created in 1938-39, are located under the dining hall in the Hovey Grill, which used to be a faculty dining room until it was shuttered in the early 1970s.

From the early 1980s to the 1990s, the murals were covered with boards. Since 2011, the murals have only been accessible to faculty for teaching purposes.

The debate over the future of the Hovey Murals featured multiple options, including destruction, relocation or simply keeping the murals in Hovey Grill.

“It’s a complicated question because of [the murals’] impact on the Native American community on campus, and because of their value for teaching and scholarship and because of the sentiments of many other generations of Dartmouth alumni who have had a connection to those murals, both positively and negatively,” interim provost David Kotz ’86 said in a prior interview with The Dartmouth.

FIRST DAYS OF FALL

TRUONG: LOST LINGO

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BARTLETT: THE ‘YOU’ NEVER CHANGES

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The Dartmouth

Five months into the public launch of the College’s $3 billion Call to Lead capital campaign, Dartmouth is witnessing fundraising progress that has set a new record in its campaign fundraising history.

According to a press release by the College’s Office of Communications, the campaign has hit a record-setting point in its philanthropic giving. The

The Dartmouth

DO: ON GETTING WASTED

DARTMOUTH HOSTS 2018 INTERNATIONAL BLACK THEATRE SUMMIT

By LORRAINE LU

By SAVANNAH ELLER

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ARTS

Call to Lead hits funding milestone

donations that Dartmouth has received in the 2018 fiscal year surpassed those received in the 2017 and 2016 fiscal year, by nearly 1.5 and 1.3 times greater respectively.

Only four years into the campaign, the College has already surpassed the midpoint of its $3 billion goal with $1.78 billion raised so far, which is believed to be “ahead of where Brown [University] was at the midst of [its $3 billion] campaign,” SEE CALL TO LEAD PAGE 3

Geisel study analyzes Safe Station program

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HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH

The leaves on the trees on Tuck Mall will soon change color to create a beautiful sight.

A new study conducted by researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine analyzes data collected on the Safe Station program in Manchester, a novel opioid addiction resource gaining national acclaim.

Created in May 2016, Safe Station is operated by the Manchester City Fire Department.

The program allows people

struggling with opioid addiction to seek help at one of Manchester’s fire stations, where they can receive immediate assistance any time of the day or night.

The study focuses on documenting how effectively Safe Station connects those seeking help with concrete assistance.

The study also collected data on the program’s sustainability and replicability, said Geisel School of

SEE SAFE STATION PAGE 3

Formula Hybrid Competition receives award

By CASSANDRA THOMAS The Dartmouth

In 2006, Doug Fraser, senior research engineer and laboratory instructor at the Thayer School of Engineering, was inspired by an unlikely object — his 2001 Toyota Prius.

At the time, Dartmouth participated in the Formula SAE competition, in which

students race cars built with motorcycle engines. Fraser believed challenging students to create hybrid cars would be a better educational and multidisciplinary experience.

The result was Fraser’s brainchild — the Formula Hybrid Competition.

Re c e n t l y, t h e Fo r mu l a Hybrid Competition was granted the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. Innovation

Award, acknowledging the competions’s excellence in educating budding engineers.

It will receive the award on Nov. 2 at the ABET Awards Gala in Baltimore, MD. According to its website, ABET “recognizes vision and commitment that challenge the status-quo in technical education.”

“Formula Hybrid stood out for fostering collaboration across disciplines, from

computer science to electrical and mechanical engineering, and for encouraging engineering students to create innovative approaches to sustainable design,” ABET CEO Michael Milligan wrote in an email statement.

Wi n n i n g t h e A B E T Innovation Award signifies that the Formula Hybrid Competition has arrived at its most polished state, Fraser said.

Since its conception 12 years ago, the For mula Hybrid Competition has matured into an international event, drawing around 30 teams from around the globe to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway every spring, according to Alex Newman ’19, who served as the team’s mechanical lead in its 201718 season.

SEE FORMULA PAGE 5

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Q&A with psychology professor Caroline Robertson

By LUCY TURNIPSEED The Dartmouth

C a ro l i n e Ro b e r t s o n j o i n e d the Dartmouth faculty in July as an assistant professor in the psychological and brain sciences department. Working as a postdoctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Robertson was the lead author of a study which gained national attention as it found a link between the neurotransmitter GABA and autism. Robertson is serving as the principal investigator on the Dartmouth Autism Research Initiative, which seeks to understand the biomedical causes of autism and develop assistive care.

What is your current project at Dartmouth?

CR: We are an autism research group. We just moved to Dartmouth in July, and our goal is to build an autism research program on campus. Currently there are a lot of people with autism who come through Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center to the psychiatry clinics, but there isn’t much human-level autism research at all coordinated on campus. There’s a lot of interest in autism in the community, a lot of different service providers that work with people with autism and after-school programs and things like this, but right now there’s no centralized hub of those efforts. This is an

exciting time to be bringing a research group here because we can be that hub. So what we’re doing is basic neuroscience psychology research for people with autism.

We ask questions that are trying to understand what’s different about the autistic brain, how they understand the world around them and what is different in their brain as they’re looking at different stimuli like images, listening to sounds or language. Another prong of what we do outside of research is trying to be a useful resource to help coordinate the efforts in Hanover, trying to do sensory-based community activities in the Upper Valley. We’re helping to coordinate sensory-friendly movie screenings and science communication talks and things like that to generally bring together autism awareness.

Can you briefly describe your background and how you got into this field?

CR: I’m a neuroscience researcher and my PhD is in autism research.

What interests me about it is probably what interests most people: that it’s a very common condition, but we know very little about it. I came to it as an undergrad and I found that I really had a passion for understanding the brain but really wanted my research to have significant clinical impact, so I wanted to focus on a condition where I felt there was a lot left to know about and autism drew my

COURTESY OF CAROLINE ROBERTSON

Professor Caroline Robertson spearheads autism research initiatives.

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

attention.

What does outreach for your program look like?

CR: When we first came to campus, my goal was just to identify the different people in the Upper Valley community who were already doing work with individuals with autism or around autism awareness and learn from them what’s needed in the community at this point. I knew we wanted to have some sort of community outreach side to the work, but I wanted to know what particularly we could fill. I talked to everyone from the people who run the Nugget Theater to psychiatrists at the hospital. Recruitment-wise, we’ve mostly been working through social media and our website. I think down the road we’ll start doing things like putting up fliers in different community centers.

What will be involved in the studies you design? How and why are you blending techniques of neuroscience and visual reality technology?

CR: A lot of our work focuses on understanding sensory perception in people with autism and how they view the world. We do that because people with autism often report advantages and talents in sensory domains, but many also struggle with sensory filtering.

Understanding that part of autism has been a large focus in our lab because it’s something you can

measure really well objectively. We use techniques like eye-tracking, watching how someone moves their eyes and allocates their attention in order to tell which details they process and pick up on, and we do that usually in virtual reality settings with headsets. I track people while they’re looking around a natural environment to try to understand how they filter visual information and focus in on different sensory details. We can give them sounds and measure how they process the natural world. Later, we can bring them to the fMRI machine and see which parts of the brain are different when people are noticing certain details or filtering certain parts of the environment. What’s cool about this is vision is something we really understand a lot in terms of neuroscience. When you pick up something that’s different in autism in the sensory domain, you can really start to get a handle on the neurobiological underpinnings of that because we have a good template of how vision works in the normal brain. We can model and understand well deviations.

What will you discuss at your upcoming public lecture, “ A u t i s m : A Vi e w f ro m Neuroscience”? Why did you decide to do this event?

CR: It’s part of the outreach side of the autism research initiative. I really feel that, in the autism field, there is very little communication

between the scientists who try to understand the condition but don’t communicate back to those who have the condition, or parents and educators, about the significance of our work. I think that leads to a lot of miscommunication in the scientific world and to the general public, and is something scientists need to take on really seriously.

We will try to have regular public lectures, speaking to a general audience about what we’re learning about in the brain, open the dialogue for what science can bring to understanding autism.

What is one thing everyone should know about autism?

CR: There’s a phrase in the autism community, which is “nothing about me without me.”

It’s a really nice sentiment — we shouldn’t be designing studies about people without incorporating those people, their ideas and their opinions and perspectives, into our design and also giving the research back to them. That phrase has really inspired me in starting my own lab and is something I’m really thinking a lot about now. We’re making sure that our research is aimed at questions that would have impact of people’s day-today lives, designed with the input of the people that this research is meant to benefit.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

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Safe Station helps people struggling with opioid addiction FROM SAFE STATION PAGE 1

Medicine psychiatry professor and director of the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health Lisa Marsch, the lead researcher in the study. It was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which sought a comprehensive overview of the program and the creation of a possible “implementation road map” for use in other communities, according to Marsch.

“The whole point is that when people are ready and willing to get help it’s immediately available to them,” Marsch said.

Conducted by Marsch with a team of researchers at the Center of Technology and Behavioral Health, the study compiled both quantitative data and interviews with those involved in the program from September 2017 to April 2018. Among those interviewed for the study were firefighters, healthcare professionals involved in the program and participants.

Manchester fire chief Daniel Goonan, who cofounded the program in 2016, said Safe Station was started as a response to the area’s rapidly developing opioid crisis.

During the year Safe Station was

first implemented, Manchester had seen an unprecedented spike in opioid overdoses, according to Goonan.

“We knew we were in the middle of something unusual,” he said.

The Safe Station model is simple: a person seeking help may stop by any of Manchester’s 10 fire stations and be immediately greeted with personnel who perform a physical evaluation. If in need of medical attention, the person may then be transported to the hospital. The stations also keep the overdosetreatment drug naloxone on site. If not in immediate danger, the person will then be connected with assessment services at Granite Pathways , a local nonprofit organization that can then refer them to more specialized organizations.

The first program of its kind in the country, the Manchester Safe Station benefits from several logistical advantages over traditional outreach programs, according to the study’s findings. Being based in the city’s fire stations allows the service to be available 24/7 with no extra cost, and firefighters, already trained as first responders, easily learn to administer assessments of drop-in participants.

Safe Station’s outreach model also has a more psychological advantage.

According to Manchester policy

and strategic outreach director Lauren Smith, the program is successful because people tend to trust firefighters as nonjudgmental authority figures.

“You grow up and you learn that firefighters are here to help,” she said.

Despite its simple outreach model, the Safe Station program has experienced setbacks while trying to connect individuals with effective community resources. The Geisel study documents the dissolution of Serenity Place, Safe Station’s former primary referral organization, in October of 2017. City leaders and organizers of Safe Station were forced to quickly find an alternative solution after the addiction-treatment center stopped operating due to financial insolvency.

“It was really stressful working on this for a time,” Smith said. Ultimately, program planners decided to use a network of organizations to meet participants’ varied needs instead of relying on one provider.

Safe Station now works at an even higher efficiency than before, usually assessing individuals in an average of nine minutes and assigning them to personalized treatment within two days. The program has served over 4,000 people since its inception, according to Goonan.

Despite the program’s success potentially disrupting a resource within the Manchester community, that has already been proven the Safe Station program has effective. recently been under threat from “It’s really maddening sometimes New Hampshire’s attempt to create when you stepped up when no one a more unified strategy to combat else had, when everyone else was opioid addiction. Last week the still sitting at a roundtable,” he said. state’s Department of Health and Goonan said he hopes the results Human Services received a federal of the Dartmouth study will help State Opioid Response grant, convince lawmakers to keep the which will infuse $45.8 million into Safe Station program running the state’s opioid i n M a n c h e s t e r. response efforts over “We shouldn’t He also hopes to two years. use the data and The p l a n close any of these individual accounts submitted for the doors, in my published in the grant called for the study to show other opinion.” creation of eight municipalities across regional “hubs” in the country how New Hampshire -LISA MARSCH, the program might to provide opioid be implemented addiction resources PSYCHIATRY elsewhere. Goonan to individuals in PROFESSOR has already given each area. The new presentations in state-wide network over 50 cities, and is expected to be operational by a Safe Station pilot program is November. already underway in Nashua, While seen by many as a step Massachusetts. forward for New Hampshire’s Marsch says that study’s findings perennially underfunded opioid point to Safe Station being a addiction response, the new model’s valuable resource, and that no plan does not clearly state how effective resource to combat opioids the Safe Station program will be should be discontinued. affected, Marsch said.

“We shouldn’t close any of these Goonan sees the new plan as doors, in my opinion,” she said.

Call To Lead funds campus projects FROM CALL TO LEAD PAGE 1

according to executive director of communications at Dartmouth College Advancement Jonathan Goldstein. Started in 2013 and officially launched in 2015, Brown’s BrownTogether campaign took five years to reach its midpoint. “[The Call to Lead campaign] is by far the boldest and most ambitious campaign we have had in our history,” Board of Trustees chair Laurel Richie ’81 said. “It is a very comprehensive campaign, both in the dollar amount and more importantly, the academic, financial aids and objectives that are within the Campaign.”

Dartmouth’s graduate schools have also experienced recordsetting donations. According to associate director of public relations at the Tuck School of Business Edward Winchester, the Tuck capital campaign has raised $142.8 million out of its $250 million goal, which is more than the total amount raised in Tuck’s previous campaigns overall.

Richie said that the Campaign’s driving force is enthusiastic support from alumni.

“Our alums are very, very excited about the initiatives that are laid out,” Richie said.

Richie said that she believes the alumni’s “love for and appreciation

of their duration at Dartmouth” is School of Graduate and Advanced what has prompted the community Studies F. Jon Kull, the majority of to be so active in the campaign. campaign funds for the Guarini School According to Richie, one fundraising will go toward supporting graduate strategy that has been effective in student fellowships. He said that the the campaign so far is the alumni Guarini School also plans to use its outreach and engagement conducted funds to support dining bonuses for by the College’s advancement team. students, eliminate application fees, “One of the things that we’ve been ensure the recruitment of a strong doing for the past couple of years is and diverse pool of students and going out and meeting with alumni provide professional development to all around the country and sharing students interested in academia and the [goals of the entrepreneurship. campaign], getting “Our alums Ku l l s a i d t h at their input, getting are very, very some of the new their feedback,” fellowships will excited about the be launched next Richie said.

She noted that intiatives that are year, even as the College President Guarini School Phil Hanlon, the laid out.” continues to receive Dean of the College donations from the and the Campaign campaign. All of -LAURIE RICHIE Planning Committee the fellowships will also participated in ’81, BOARD OF be launched within engagement efforts TRUSTEES CHAIR the next five years, for the Campaign. he added.

The renovation A new residential of the Moosilauke facility is the latest Ravine Lodge — the “home to campaign-funded project to launch the First-Year Trips,” according to after the Board of Trustees recently Goldstein — was completed last year approved a plan to develop a with funding from the campaign. schematic design for a new 350-bed Other projects will soon actualize on dormitory. Additional projects, such campus, including the reopening of as the renovation of Dartmouth the Hood Museum of Art in January Hall and the construction on the 2019, Goldstein said. west end of campus, are still in their According to dean of the Guarini fundraising stages.

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THE DARTMOUTH EVENTS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

DARTMOUTHEVENTS

TODAY

8:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.

Panel: “#BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, #TimesUp: Activism at the Intersection of Art and Business,” sponsored by theater department, Hopkins Center 114 Moore Theater

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Seminar: “Self-driving Cars and the Future of the Auto Sector,” with Google’s Kyle Keogh T’99, sponsored by Tuck School of Business Center for Digital Strategies, Rosenwald Classroom, Byrne Hall

7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Concert: North Indian Classical Music, sponsored by the Music Department, One Wheelock, Collis Center

TOMORROW

12:00 p.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Meditation: Lunchtime Mindfulness Meditation, sponsored by Dick’s House-Student Health Service, Robinson Hall 322

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

Lecture: “America’s Tobacco Struggle: Wins and Losses,” with FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products Mitch Zeller, sponsored by Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Dartmouth, Rockefeller 002

10:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m.

Skating: “Roller Rink Rewind,” sponsored by Collis After Dark, Common Ground, Collis Center

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

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

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

PAGE 5

THE DARTMOUTH NEWS

Formula competition Firms benefit from powerful CEOs trains students

By BLAKE MCGILL

firms’ investments from 1999 to 2010, focusing on the amount of From Elon Musk to Mark money spent on advertising and Zuckerberg, some chief executive product development and the officers have more control over number of capital expenditures their companies while others have made, Li said. less, but does it make a difference?

According to her, previous studies A recent study conducted had found that powerful CEOs

by Tuck School of received excessive Business professor compensation, “If we look at the Gordon Phillips and made inefficient finance professors founder Steve investment Minwen Li and Yao Jobs ... it was very decisions and Lu of Tsinghua ran fir ms with U n i v e r s i t y i n notorious that he lower profitability.

B e i j i n g , C h i n a had a lot of power She added that has found that these findings left in governing the powerful CEOs add the researchers significant value company.” wondering why so to firms engaged many firms endow in competitive their leaders with -MINWEN LI, product markets. such authority.

P h i l l i p s s a i d TSINGHUA The researchers that he and his used a model from UNVERSITY FINANCE a 2 0 0 2 p a p e r fellow researchers conducted the study PROFESSOR which analyzes in light of recent a CEO’s role in criticism of higha c o m p any. L i profile company heads, like former noted that the researchers added Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and an additional element of “highthe academic research that has phased competition” to the model, consequently confir med these which factors in the influence of denunciations. a competitive market, in which The researchers wondered if there is a necessity for firms to act “firms [were] making systematic quickly when making decisions and mistakes” in their hiring decisions or investments or otherwise risk losing if there were cases where powerful market share.

CEOs would indeed benefit the In adding this element, Li firms,” Phillips said. said the team discovered that in According to Phillips, the certain industries — ones in which research team decided to solely companies face a lot of competition analyze data sources rather than and which require company conduct personal interviews. leadership to respond quickly and The team looked primarily at sometimes dramatically — firms The Dartmouth

him about the importance of teamwork.

“Even outside of engineering Fraser added that he believes there is no need for major adjustments to and the automotive industry, it’s been a good experience,” Newman the competition any time soon.

“I don’t see much on the said. “Being able to work on a horizon at this point,” he said. “It’s team, making deadlines and being able to manage working.” things effectively Fo r m u l a are universal H y b r i d a l l ow s “I think Dartmouth skills. It’s good e n g i n e e r i n g Formula Racing has for anyone, but students in for the automotive different fields to been an incredible industr y it’s a collaborate on a club for me learn way to get project together, and grow in. I’d say good in.” according to at least half of the N e w m a n , Fraser. who studies “Mechanical things I know about mechanical engineering engineering, s t u d e n t s a n d engineering come said he has e l e c t r i c a l from this.” benefited from the engineering Formula Hybrid s t u d e n t s d o n’t Competition in c o m m u n i c a t e -ALEX NEWMAN ’19 several ways, well,” he said. “I such as providing joke that they’re networking different species. I should say that because I’m both.” o p p o r t u n i t i e s w i t h i n d u s t r y Dartmouth Formula Racing professionals.

“I think Dartmouth Formula team advisor Raina White said that students benefit from the pressure Racing has been an incredible of bridging gaps between academic club for me to learn and grow in,” Newman said. “I’d say at least specialties.

“Coursework is usually divided half of the things I know about into little segments,” White said. engineering come from this. I did two “But in industry, especially for internships at Tesla in [its] vehicle complex systems like vehicles and engineering department in chassis engineering and aerospace where [Dartmouth you have a lot Formula Racing] of mechanical “I think student was directly systems and a lot of design projects applicable to electrical systems are how engineers everything I integrated, a was doing there. project like this really learn how to Everyone on my is a really good be engineers. It’s team, all the fullwindow into what time engineers, a typical working where they take had done some environment is all the coursework kind of formula like. [You need] to competition in balance the needs they’ve been school.” of the electrical learning and see According s y s t e m s a n d that it has an t o W h i t e, t h e the mechanical Formula Hybrid systems and to application. I wish Competition integrate it all every engineering has elevated together.” the educational The Formula student at experiences of H y b r i d Dartmouth was many students.

Competition in some type of “I think student also emphasizes design projects o r g a n i z a t i o n project design are how engineers and delegation team.” really learn how skills. According to be engineers,” to Fraser, teams White said. “It’s are required to -RAINA WHITE, where they take submit detailed FORMULA RACING all the coursework interim reports t h ey ’ve b e e n halfway through TEAM ADVISER learning and t h e ye a r a n d see that it has deliver a project management presentation during an application. I wish every the static portion of the competition. engineering student at Dartmouth Newman said the administrative was in some type of project design side of the competition has taught team.”

FROM FORMULA PAGE 1

benefit from having powerful CEOs. She added that these competitive industries do not have CEOs associated with excessive compensation, a finding that contradicts previous studies’ conclusions.

Both Li and Phillips said Steve Jobs’ tenure at Apple, Inc. is an example that confirms their study’s findings.

“Apple, back then, faced a lot of competition [and] technological change,” Li said. “If we look at the founder Steve Jobs ... it was very notorious that he had a lot of power in governing the company.”

At the same time, A pple “developed a lot of good products and had a very high valuation,” Li said, adding that this demonstrates the potential benefits of CEO power.

Lu noted that the study refutes the idea that a CEO “dictatorship” is necessarily an impediment to a company’s progress. “[If a firm chooses] the right person who has good ethics, who is very capable ... it may be helpful for a company’s growth or development, because it can make the company move [faster], reduce coordination and communication costs [and help the firm] react better to the market,” Lu said.

Lu said she and her fellow researchers hope for those making the decisions of allocating power to CEOs “to have a more balanced view” and recognize that there are cases in which dominant CEOs may contribute to positive returns on investment.

THE CORINTHIAN ORDER

NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH

The columns above the Rauner Special Collections Library are adorned with artistic flourishes and designs.

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THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST EOWYN PAK ‘21

STAFF COLUMNIST VALERIE TRUONG ‘21

Dad’s Little Lessons

Lost Lingo

Finding my own small dictums in the day-to-day.

Viewing education as the path to the American Dream has consequences.

On a random weekday night when I was 10 ramifications in life. My dad talked about his or 11 years old, my dad called for me and my own personal experiences in his line of work three younger siblings down to the basement. as an investment banker with his clients. In his Usually, calls down to the basement meant observation, female clients were generally less movie nights, which the four of us always open to alternatives to their original proposal looked forward to. Giddy and excited at the whereas male clients were more willing to take prospect of watching a movie late into a school a chance or be more open to further discussion. night, the four of us hopped onto the couch Dropping me off at the metro station, he ended and bundled ourselves in blankets. with, “So Eowyn, be bold today.” As cheesy The movie opened to a stereotypical as that was, the whole rest of the day, as I was American high school scene with all-too- pipetting and studying virus samples, I thought obvious cliques –– nerds, bullies, jocks, hipsters. less about how to please my intimidating The main character was on his way to class when principal investigator and more about different one of his “friends,” a troublemaker dressed methods I might employ to approach our study in sagging pants and a differently. dirty shirt, with unkempt “But, as with all things, I don’t even hair and a rebellious remember the name of the I’ve only realized how attitude, stopped him movie he showed us. I just integral these adages and tried to convince him recall being confused at how to skip class. The main were in my day-to-day as random his statement was. character hesitated for an independent college Of course, being a pre-teen, some time, but ultimately student who’s a nine-hour I didn’t give much thought agreed. The two of them drive away from home. about what he had said went outside and started at all. It’s only after some chucking rocks at the recent reflections on my building, destroying school property. Abruptly, own friends and relationships that I’ve realized the screen switched off and our dad turned he was telling us something pretty important to face us, saying, “Don’t make friends with –– and that I’ve made mistakes. Admittedly, troublemakers. They’ll pull you down with my dad can be didactic (probably why I’m them, sometimes without you realizing.” And that way too) and sometimes his stories land with that he bid us all goodnight (it was a school on sore ears. Occasionally his proverbs aren’t night after all). even original, like his TED Talk regurgitation.

From time to time, my dad will tell us things But, as with all things, I’ve only realized how like this out of nowhere. Once, on a long road integral these adages were in my day-to-day as trip to Rhode Island, he mandated that the four an independent college student who’s a nineof us tell four funny stories each. Four each! hour drive away from home. Now I’m starting And he wouldn’t let us go back to our own to find and create my own principles that are, devices until we had each told four. “Why are like his, backed by personal experiences. And as we doing this?” we kept whining, to which he inexperienced and immature as I feel, I believe replied that it was important to be able to tell this is part of the process of growing into an stories successfully, particularly funny ones, in adult –– not so much about how responsible, life and the workplace. mature, or intelligent a person is, but how many On a drive to my biomedical research stories they have to tell and what they make of internship, my dad talked about a recent them.

TED Talk he had been listening to about That movie story has stuck with me for the the difference between how girls and boys past decade, but when I asked my dad if he are raised. The gist of it was that girls are remembered that night, he had absolutely no raised to be perfect, prim and proper, whereas recollection of it. It’s likely that I’ve forgotten boys are encouraged to be daring, bold and some of his lessons, too. But soon enough, I risky (think playground during recess). These won’t need them as much because I will already seemingly minor differences had significant have a repertoire of my own.

I was home for a month this summer as long as my grades were maintained. after a long eight months, so of course I had But to focus entirely on one’s children my calendar full of dentist and optometry attaining a good education as a tenet of appointments, lunch dates with old and new parenting requires many sacrifices. Many friends and outings with extended family are financial and time-consuming: paying members. As the weeks went by, my parents for SAT classes, driving kids to practice reminded me that my grandparents on each or the 10th volunteering event they’ve side wanted to share a meal with me before signed up for that month, having food I left for school again. I, of my own moxie, to eat or reheated by the time they’re half-facetiously questioned why that would home. Yet perhaps one of the greatest be necessary, as I had seen them fairly sacrifices was my relationship with my recently during a family g randparents, which gathering. Plus, I added, became increasing ly I wouldn’t be able to “And at the table, it apparent to me as I got have any meaningful took no less than five older. Was it worth it? conservation with them different languages — My parents due to the language English, Vietnamese, chose not to speak to bar rier between us. and three dialects my brother and me in N e v e r t h e l e s s , t w o of Chinese — to Vietnamese or Chinese lunches were scheduled, communicate to wait g rowing up because one for each set of they didn’t want us to staff what we all grandparents. be behind when we O v e r d i m s u m wanted to order. My started school. They and “Vege Paradise” parents by default didn’t want us to struggle (which is essentially commanded much with learning English your standard Chinese of the conversation; as a second language, fare, vegetarianized), they bridged the wide as they did. I don’t similar events played language and generation blame them. There were out. While waiting for gap.” attempts — I attended a table, I sat down next Chinese school for a few to my grandma. She summers, but even if I asked me about school: when I was going had learned Mandarin well, it is none of my back, how long I would be gone, whether grandparents’ most comfortable language. it was cold here. These were all simple and As a kid, I despised my required after school straightforward questions, but with my activities — Chinese school, piano lessons, parents nowhere in sight at the crowded and swimming lessons. In adhering to their venue, my feeble attempts at providing her ideology, my parents pushed the piano and with answers were a Herculean effort. I swimming, but relented on the Chinese never thought I’d have to use Cantonese as school. a lingua franca, but neither she nor I spoke Education as the first priority is valuable each other’s language. It was depressing that and not necessarily wrong, but for me I felt more comfortable and familiar with and perhaps many other first generation the phone in my hand than with speaking Americans, it comes at the cost of not really to my own grandmother. knowing my grandparents. I’ve missed And at the table, it took no less than out on hearing their stories on what life five different languages — English, was like in Vietnam and their harrowing Vietnamese, and three dialects of Chinese journey to the United States. I’ve missed — to communicate to wait staff what we out on their opinions about their favorite all wanted to order. television shows to watch.

My parents by default “Education as the first I’ve missed out on what c o m m a n d e d m u c h priority is valuable and they had for dinner last of the conversation; not necessarily wrong, night. Most of what I do t h e y b r i d g e d t h e but for me and perhaps know has been filtered wide language and through my parents. I many other first generation gap. I didn’t am, essentially, on the say much at either generation Americans, fringe of their lives. So of these meals, and it comes at the cost of if you know another what little was said was not really knowing my language, speak it to your conveyed to or through grandparents...I am, kids. I guarantee that the my parents in English. essentially, on the fringe benefits are worth it.

Like many parents in To follow this ideology of their lives.” this country, my parents so affir matively is hold the view that dangerous. I’m not saying education is the surest that people should dim path to achieving the American Dream of the headlights on the goal of higher financial success, or at least, stability. After education, but if possible, they should widen all, it worked for them. I think many of the scope and be cognizant of what they are their parenting decisions can be attributed sacrificing. And to those who can or could to this notion: I rarely had to do chores, truly communicate with their grandparents, never had to get a part time job, and never treasure that. Not everyone can. had to pay for gas for my car. I had freedom

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

PAGE 7

THE DARTMOUTH OPINION

GUEST COLUMNIST LONG HOANG DO ‘20

STAFF COLUMNIST NICHOLAS BARTLETT ‘21

On Getting Wasted

The ‘You’ Never Changes

Would it be a waste of time to think too much about getting wasted?

Being drunk is not an excuse for violating moral or legal principles.

For the linguist J. L. Austin, an utterance does create a wealth of social, communal can be constative and/or performative. That and intersubjective experiences –– a form of is, it can simply make a descriptive statement bonding with peers, a sense of belonging to or it can actually perform the articulated a community, a method of being oneself by action. Austin would judge the performative getting lit with others and even a process of speech act by its degree of “felicity”: an establishing and signaling a college-student utterance should be considered “happy” if the identity. On party nights at Dartmouth, during action actually takes place and “infelicitous” if which it is often true that “I drink therefore not. At Dartmouth, it is hard to make felicitous I am,” many would labor away so as to not utterances –– i.e. to make something happen feel alienated. just by saying it. For example, many would Because getting wasted involves being say “let’s have a meal soon” to others, without both wasteful yet productive and leisurely ever having one. Similarly, when one says “I yet rigorous, the typical narrative of a wasted will study with my friends on FFB,” one will subject often unfolds in a vicious circle: one not necessarily study while sitting there. But might declare that “I am stressed right now, on this campus, when one announces to the so I will get wasted hard tonight to destress,” world that “I’m going to get wasted hard only to admit later that “I am now so stressed tonight,” one will almost certainly manage to because I got wasted too hard last night.” look wasted hard that evening. This felicitous Literary scholar Lauren Berlant would call this speech act, once uttered, guarantees students a situation of “cruel optimism,” an affective a rare kind of happiness. phenomenon that exists “when something Does the figure of speech “wasted” have you desire is actually an obstacle to your anything to do with the active verb “to flourishing,”she writes in her book “Cruel waste”? Each Dartmouth student, it should Optimism.” not be forgotten, constitutes a human resource In addition to the cruel illusion of capable of being productive. Beyond sleeping, unwinding, getting wasted also encompasses eating and using the restroom, most of us the transcendental delusion of being a are also pre-programmed superhuman. The wasted to study, exercise, work on- “I wonder if getting subject often imagines campus jobs, look for real wasted allows us various possibilities regarding jobs, take part in clubs, to forget the pace his, her or their capacity maintain relationships etc. beyond its actual limits. But of our hectic term Dartmouth’s brutal 10-week still sober, let’s stick and ignore whether while terms only strengthen this with reality for a moment. desire to be productive, at they are wasting One cannot romanticize once fostering the repressive their time, efforts or such imagined superpower paranoia of wastefulness. But potential.” without acknowledging the maximal productivity can be real structure of power that tiring, and I suspect that all has for so long haunted this students must entertain some troubling and community. An immaterial form of labor, even inexplicable desire to escape, rebel and be getting wasted can generate various kinds a wasteful entity once in a while. In this sense, of social capital. And in this economy of I wonder if getting wasted allows students to intoxication, the control of production means forget the pace of their hectic term and ignore conveniently grants power to a few. There are whether they are wasting their time, effort or no secrets as to who, at which places, are more potential. The feeling of being wasted, quite allowed, and thus more likely, to serve alcohol like the feeling of being wasteful, becomes a to others on this campus. Should they indeed cathartic response to the negative emotions of be the upperclassmen in male-dominated competition and productivity, namely stress, spaces, I wonder if the word “upperclassmen” anxiety, insecurity and so on. has come to mean “upper-class men” while Effortless though it might sound, getting the phrase “male-dominated spaces” would wasted requires a great amount of labor. simultaneously suggest “spaces of male Drinking liquids (and getting them out of the domination” in this context. body) takes up physical energy, not to mention All at once, getting wasted sounds like a all the dancing, screaming, crying or attending socially symbolic, individually iconic and BASICS that can occur afterwards. Getting potentially problematic act. This piece cannot wasted, like attending a class on game theory, do justice to the variety of forms and functions also requires some serious preparations. And of this night-time practice. But if Dartmouth speaking of preparation, one should not forget is serious about transforming its social spaces, how society has often pressured a woman the College should try to fully examine the to expend an additional hour of dressing effects, ideologies and power structures that up before she can go out. In short, getting govern this seemingly non-productive yet wasted remains the ultimate time , energy extremely laborious activity, or else such and alcohol consuming task of the college efforts might get wasted. experience.

Is it worth it, though? The answer, I The Dartmouth welcomes guest columns. We believe, should still be yes. Getting wasted, request that guest columns be the original work of the as it turns out, is only wasteful in one sense, submitter. Submissions may be sent to both opinion@ while surprisingly productive in another. thedartmouth.com and editor@thedartmouth.com.

This activity may not put out any physical Submissions will receive a response within three commodity or intellectual capital, but it business days.

“Yo, dude, check out this pic of what happened And when inebriation finds itself an integral last night. I was so wasted, haha! I can’t even component of the American cultural machine, remember it.” rationalization of the resulting behavior is sure If you’re anything like me, something to this to follow. end has absolutely blessed your ears at one point Although I can place the cultural roots of our or another. The “who” changes, sure; the “what” alcoholic tree, I cannot help but find it entirely varies, certainly; but the sense of dopey pride reprehensible. My small hometown specifically behind the whole ordeal always — a land of cheese, booze (and I mean always) remains “They act as if a and football — serves as an constant. These inebriated folk exemplar as to why. I have seen few Pabst Blue haven’t simply carried out the firsthand the underbelly of all crime of stupidity — no, they’ve Ribbons are capable that alcohol (that marvelous, both committed said idiocy of inducing mental socializing beverage) has to AND decided to regale anyone mitosis and birthing offer. It’s no paradise. Many and everyone with tales of their a completely spend their lives corrupting the inglorious conquests. They revel distinct personality air around them with the putrid in actions which under any — the patsy to our stench of ethanol which seeps other circumstances would have debauchery.” from their mouths. Friendships warranted the titles of morally — romantic relationships, even reprehensible, quite illegal, or a — wither beneath the strain of combination of the two. And I cannot seem to reconciling their stupidity with their believed lack understand why that is. Why would anyone be in agency. I’ve seen it happen to family, friends and so OK, overjoyed even, with the consequences strangers alike (both at home and at Dartmouth) of their drunken stupor that they would proudly After all, how can one apologize in earnest bestow that knowledge upon any sap foolish when the “I’m sorry” (admission of culpability) enough to listen? Have we no shame? consistently arrives penultimate to “I was drunk” Apparently, no. No we don’t. Drunken (excuse)? Both parties involved know darn well stupidity does not always catalyze a burning feeling that such behavior would be impermissible in of shame or regret. Instead it often ironically births any other context, and it consequently reeks of a sense of zealous pride. Men and women alike disingenuity; it’s unacceptable. look back upon these moments through a jovial, Every morning, yet another solemn headline unabashed lens. But why? drudges across the screen of your morning news: I understand wanting to rejoice in tales of “Family of three killed in car accident involving youthful misadventures. After all, one’s childhood drunk driver.” And each and every time, the mishaps derive from a biological immaturity drunkard son-of-a-gun spews forth that same, and subsequent lack of understanding. But adult pitifully toxic defense: “I was drunk.” Each and (at least, I pray they be adult) mishaps of the every time this warps the lens through which intoxicated ilk? The excuse no longer applies. society views their action — as if a drunk crime Their actions are their own — from the very is any different than a sober one. Each and every moment they first dared down a swig of the acrid, time, it disgusts me. oft face-puckering brew to the crime (of idiocy) in I understand that my points may come across question. And yet many individuals deem these as hyperbolic; that I posit anecdotes and nothing actions as in no way, shape or more. But such is not a matter form implicating their character. “‘Drunk you’ and of specifics. No, the issue “I was drunk” does not ‘sober you’ have herein lies within this injurious exclusively summarize their always been and will precedent of “disregarding state of being. No, this very always be the same responsibility” which people prevalent subset of the drinking person.” seem perfectly content to population instead deems perpetuate. Any duality to the “drunk” to constitute a different situation is fallacious. “Drunk person entirely, not just a you” and “sober you” have different mindset. They disassociate “drunk you” always been and will always be the same person. from “sober you.” They act as if a few Pabst Blue The latter exists as naught but a disparate — and, Ribbons are capable of inducing mental mitosis mind you, entirely self-inflicted — state of mind. and birthing a completely distinct personality — The notion that inebriation births an “other” the patsy to our debauchery. And consequently, on which one may pin the blame remains, thereby, this allows the only shame felt to be that of the as dubious as it is dangerous. Certainly, a few proxy. These actions, after all, were not their own; frat boys boasting of their drunken forays into they’ve no reason to take pause before spewing the realm of petty vandalism will not annihilate forth the many legends of their “drunk conquests” society as we know it; but culture starts with the at breakfast, lunch, and dinner (possibly even lowest rung — with the seemingly negligible. brunch). Worse yet, this trend rears its ugly head That is what must desire to change. from coast to coast.

For so long as “I was drunk” serves as a viable It’s understandable why many think this way defense, the same abhorrent behavior which in the US. Here, alcohol is nearly ubiquitous: it batters towns like my own into an impaired, worms its way into the pages of novels, stars in drunken stupor will continue to mar America nearly every-other commercial, serves as the key and harm (be it via vandalism or physical assault) plot-device of many Hollywood productions and its people. No more excuses. Accountability must lies plastered atop even the billboards under which find its mark —irrespective of the number of we drive. Getting drunk remains the monolith Keystones which one has poured down your of American collegiate culture — legal or no. gullet.

PAGE 8

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

THE DARTMOUTH ARTS

Dartmouth hosts the 2018 International Black Theatre Summit B y joyce lee

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

In March of 1998, Dartmouth witnessed a historic summit on black theater, intended to address specific strategies to build and maintain black theater companies and institutions.

Playwright August Wilson, whose work “Fences” won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, led efforts to organize “On Golden Pond” during his time as a Montgomery Fellow at the College.

In 2018, 20 years after the original summit, Dartmouth will once again host a summit on black theater this week from Sept. 26 to 29. The 2018 International Black Theatre Summit, titled “Breaking New Ground” in reference to Wilson’s famous speech “The Ground On Which I Stand,” will not only examine theater as a medium for black performance, but film and television as well.

Theater professor Monica Ndounou, who is hosting the 2018 summit, said that she came to the decision to convene the summit last fall, during her first term as a professor at the College, when she realized that the 20th anniversary of the event was approaching.

“I think there’s a lot of possibilities that can come out of what we’re trying to do now,” she said. “I’m not saying that it wasn’t possible in 1998, but there are certain things [such as] the Internet [that are] really big now, and we have digital technology and other resources that we can access to do some of the storytelling that we want to do.”

Ndounou said the summit actually came together fairly quickly, as she started planning the event toward the end of the fall term last year. In the process of her planning, Ndounou said the success of the film “Black Panther” confirmed for her the importance of a new summit that expanded discussions beyond theater and into film and television.

“The original event was primarily theater focused,” she said. “Because of the nature of my research doing theater, film, television and media, we’re having the same conversations in all these different spaces, and we’re fighting some of the same battles — [so] what would happen if we came together to figure out what strategies we can use to support black storytelling across platforms?”

Representation in media is a key theme in this year’s summit, Ndounou said. Referencing a study conducted through the Bunche Center at the University of California, Los Angeles,

she said that although data now exists about the inequity in hiring practices both in front of and behind the camera in television and film, institutions will not commit to making changes in the system unless demanded to do so by a general audience.

“People are tweeting their displeasure — people who may not have access to different platforms to publish, like the New York Times or other publications, but people can still publish their views on this, and you have enough of that out there to where it’s really hard to ignore now.” she said.

This fall, Ndounou is teaching Theater 22, “Black Theater USA,” whose students are actively involved in this discussion about representation in entertainment. “[In my class], we were talking about how it’s not just entertainment,” she said. “People’s impression of themselves very often is determined by the images circulating out in the world, ‘cause they’re constantly being told this is who they are. And unless you have the resilience and even that community that challenges that master narrative that misrepresents, then you may be identifying with something that has nothing to do with you.”

Lexi Warden ’21, a student in Ndounou’s course last fall and a panel speaker at the summit, said that students involved in the summit were aware of the event early on through informal student groups around theatrical projects, including the production of “Citrus,” last spring.

Warden said that she emphasized the rarity of an event such as this summit occurring at the College when she reached out to student volunteers.

She felt lucky to see the Dartmouth community and the black theater community overlap as it does through the summit, she said.

“I guess the fact that somebody recognized that this particular event happened here and has significance here was really reassuring to me,” she said. “And I hope this can set a precedent — a precedent so that black artists can have a space here and make the theater space here more inclusive.”

The summit will consist of a variety of events, including film screenings of “Black Panther” and “The Hate U Give,” as well as workshops, panels and student productions. Some of these events will be closed to the public, including the two films and a majority of the workshops.

“The original summit was a fiveor-six-day event, and only one day was open to the public,” Ndounou

said. “This one is actually more open than the previous one, and a part of that is because there are some internal conversations that need to happen in closed company before you start having a public discussion.”

Because the conversations during the workshops are intended to develop strategic steps on moving forward in black theater and performance, much in the spirit of the previous summit, it was important for there to be space to have conversations that allowed disagreements and competing ideas, Ndounou said.

There will be six working groups for the summit: black theater, film and media, capitalization and business matters, cross cultural collaboration, activism and education. Speakers at these workshops, as well as at panels and film screenings, will include Black Lives Matter activists, representatives from film production companies, theater and drama professors, playwrights, actors and other creative members of the industry.

“Dartmouth has a very strong alumni network, especially in the entertainment industry, and so some of the participants are alums, and we also have students speaking on the panels,” Ndounou said. “A lot of what we’re doing is supporting the work that people are already doing in other spaces. It’s just organizing it, and creating this sort of collective synergy around this idea that clearly representation matters, and clearly there are a lot of issues we’re dealing with across platforms.”

Ndounou said that Dartmouth could potentially emerge as a leader in a conversation about producing structural changes in areas such as film and entertainment through its alumni and students, such as screenwriter and producer Shonda Rhimes ’91, who has spearheaded the “Time’s Up” movement against sexual harassment in Hollywood.

“It’s not just about getting things to look different, superficially, but also in getting them to operate differently,” Ndounou said. “And that also has to do with who occupies positions of power in these different areas. So the goal is to connect with people who are doing this work.”

One of the key events of the summit, which will also be open to the public, is Roger Guenveur Smith’s solo oratory performance“Frederick Douglass Now.” Smith originally participated in the first summit in 1998. Smith also returned to Dartmouth to perform his Obie Award-winning show “A Huey P. Newton Story.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JUSTIN ZSEBE

Roger Guenveur Smith’s performance is one of the key events of the summit.

“I think one of the things that was most memorable about the first summit was [Wilson] and his wife Constanza [Wilson] carrying their newborn daughter down the aisle of [an auditorium], where we had gathered,” Smith said. “And it was a beautiful kind of christening of their child but also I think it was a kind of baptism of a movement, a rebaptism of a movement that had begun generations ago when folks decided there needed to be a peculiar and particular kind of focus on African-American theatrical forms, and who took it upon themselves to find and define a unique voice in this country.”

In honor of Frederick Douglass’s bicentennial, Smith has performed his solo piece internationally to wide acclaim. Prior to his work on Douglass, Smith incorporated the figures of Rodney King and Huey P. Newton into their own solo performances.

“I had, and continue to have, a tremendous historical imagination and curiosity,” Smith said. “And I found, as an undergraduate in American Studies ... at Occidental College, a way to combine my interest in history and my obvious interest in performance as well.”

Smith’s show is directly inspired

by the life and work of Douglass, and utilizes all of his written work in chronological order. The pieces are edited for a contemporary audience, and are bookended by Smith’s own writing — a prologue called “Blood and Brains,” and an epilogue that is a hip-hop and jazzinflected take on Douglass’s legacy. Smith said that the show is titled “Frederick Douglass Now” because he believes the work to be relevant to the present American cultural moment, and not simply a piece of nostalgia or history. Because of this, Smith said that he would not perform Douglass as an impersonation; he would be wearing a modern suit with a cordless microphone, rather than a 19th century wig and costume.

“I would like to think that people leave the show wanting to know more about [Douglass], wanting to know about his great narrative, his letters and speeches,” he said. “I’d like to think that young people would want to leave wanting to do a [Douglass] performance of their own.”

Smith will perform “Frederick Douglass Now” at Moore Theater in the Hopkins Center for the Arts today and tomorrow at 7 p.m. The 2018 International Black Theater Summit ends on Sept. 29.