VOL. CLXXVIV NO. 3
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
Less restricted Student Assembly campaigning allowed this spring
HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Dartmouth to return Occom’s possessions to Mohegan Tribe
BY ARIZBETH ROJAS The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on April 14, 2022.
TIFFANY CHANG/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
BY EMILY FAGELL The Dartmouth
This article was originally published on April 11, 2022. For the first time since 2019, Student Assembly candidates will be able to campaign in person before elections on April 26, according to the Election Planning and Advisory Committee’s updated 2022 election code. The elections will also operate under updated budget requirements and loosened restrictions on social media tactics. Revisions to the code regarding less oversight on social media conduct came in the wake of last year’s controversy, when SA presidential and vice-presidential candidates Attiya Khan ’22 and Sebastian MuñozMcDonald ’23 had their campaign temporarily suspended for “spreading misinformation and due to supporter conduct.” While both Khan and Muñoz-McDonald spoke out publicly
against unfair treatment during last year’s election cycle, EPAC chair Zippy Abraham Paiss ’23 said the suspension was “not a unique case” and changes to the code had been warranted prior to the controversy. “I would say I have always wanted these changes,” Abraham Paiss said. “Before the beginning of last year’s campaign period, I thought that it would make sense if EPAC was more hands off, but the rules already existed and [were] written in the code, and it wasn’t my place to change them.” Now, as a second-year chair, Abraham Paiss said she felt compelled to amend this year’s election code after being in conversation with the rest of the committee. The return to in-person campaigning involves many changes. In concordance with the College’s COVID-19 policies, candidates may now hold public forums and gatherings. Lifted restrictions also now enable campaigns to spread fliers, hang up posters and banners, use chalk according to the College’s chalking
policies, set up tables in public areas and send one bulk mailing to Hinman mailboxes. Current SA members responded positively to the return to in-person campaigning. “I do think that Dartmouth is an in-person kind of place,” School House senator Paul Hager ’22 said. “The events and booths and activities that draw the most interesting students are things that happen in person [...] Speaking as a ’22, I remember the campaigning that happened before — a lot of big chalk drawings and outreach activities. I bet those will continue to be popular in the same way.” South House senator Anthony Fosu ’24 said he believes that “candidates are going to engage more with the student body,” while many may still utilize strategies learned during virtual campaigns. “The most effective campaigns will use a mix of different types of SEE CAMPAIGNING PAGE 2
Forensic Union wins back-to-back at National Debate Tournament
PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 62 LOW 47
BY KRISTIN CHAPMAN The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on April 14, 2022.
NEWS
SUMMIT ON JUNIPER APARTMENTS PROVIDE NEARBY HOUSING PAGE 2
OPINION
VERBUM ULTIMUM: AN APPLE A DAY PAGE 3
ARTS
REVIEW: SYD’S ‘BROKEN HEARTS CLUB’ LACKING
Dartmouth Forensic Union debaters Tyler Vergho ’23 and Arvind Shankar ’23 won the 76th National Debate Tournament on March 31, ending this year’s hybrid debate season. The victory marks Vergho’s second win in a row and the first back-to-back win in Dartmouth debate history, which began in the 1940s, according to DFU coach John Turner ’03. In addition, the DFU is the third team ever to win the NDT in backto-back years, Turner said. He added that the win brings up the DFU’s national collegiate ranking to second most all-time NDT wins. “This win brought us to eight [wins and] broke a tie with Harvard [University], who’s at seven,” he said. “Northwestern [University] has the all-time lead with 14.” Turner said he felt proud of the team’s effort and dedication for the past two years, even though these debate seasons were “significantly impacted” by COVID-19 –– with last
year’s tournament season held entirely online, and this year’s tournament season held with a combined in-person and online format. “This year we got the chance to go to a few in-person tournaments but competed online at a number of tournaments as well,” Turner said. “Through both years we had teams who were working incredibly hard to be at the top competitive level of intercollegiate policy debate, [which] takes many hours of work every week.” Vergho said that the team faced setbacks due to a COVID-19 outbreak that occurred on the day before they were set to travel to James Madison University, where the tournament was held. Vergho said he had to compete virtually, while his partner, Shankar, attended the NDT in person. “[We] entered that first day of the tournament not necessarily with the competitive outlook, [or] gearing up to win, that you otherwise might expect going into a national championship like this,” he said. “...It was kind of disappointing to miss out on [the inperson component], but I think part of that ultimately got channeled into SEE DEBATE PAGE 2
PAGE 4
SPORTS
SENIOR SPRING: THOMAS LINGARD SHINES AS TRACK LEADER PAGE 5
MIRROR
THE HISTORY BENEATH US: ANTH 50.47 PAGE 6 FOLLOW US ON
@thedartmouth COPYRIGHT © 2022 THE DARTMOUTH, INC.
Courtesy of John Cameron Turner
O n A p r i l 2 7 , a re p at r i at i o n ceremony will take place at the Mohegan Cultural and Preservation Cen ter in Co n n ec tic u t for th e C o l l e g e t o re t u r n t h e S a m s o n Occom papers, which include diaries and autobiographical statements belonging to Occom — a co-founder of Dartmouth — to his native Mohegan Tribe. Part of the significance of the documents lies in their linguistic information and history. According to College archivist Peter Carini, among the 117 documents and two books in the collection, there is a primer that contains what is believed to be the oldest example of the Mohegan Tribe’s written language. According to Mohegan Tribal Council vice chairwoman Sarah Harris ’00, the last fluent speaker of the Mohegan language passed away in 1908, at a time when many Mohegans had stopped teaching the language out of fear of “retribution” from local teachers. Harris wrote in an emailed statement that the Mohegan Language Project plans to use the primer substantively as a teaching tool towards the Mohegan language revitalization efforts. The Occom papers are currently housed in an underground storage facility between the back of Rauner Library and the east wing of Baker L i b r a r y. A c c o r d i n g t o H a r r i s, the return of the Occom papers i s p a r t i c u l a rl y m e a n i n g f u l f o r the Mohegan Tribe because the Mogehan people believe that objects and writing hold their maker’s spirit within them. “With the return of his papers, Occom is coming back to our homelands and our people,” Harris wrote. Taught by Eleazar Wheelock, Occom was considered a remarkable student by any standard, according to Native American studies professor Colin Calloway. Calloway said it was this experience that prompted Wheelock to found Dartmouth College with the initial intention of educating Native American youth. According to Carini, by assisting t h e M o h e g a n Tr i b e w i t h l e g a l documents and fighting for their land rights, Occom hoped to use his education to support his homeland. However, according to Calloway, in Dec. 1765, Occom traveled to England to raise money for what he believed would become a school for Native Americans which instead b ec a m e D ar tm o u th Co l l eg e — “another school basically for white students,” Calloway said. Before returning in 1767, Occom had raised roughly 2 million pounds in today’s money, Carini said. Then, in 1777, Occom wrote a “scathing” letter to Wheelock
regarding Wheelock’s broken promise to care for Occom’s family while Occom was away and repurposing of the collected funds to create a college that served sons of New Englanders, Carini said. According to Calloway, in the letter, Occom said that Dartmouth should not be considered an alma mater, but instead an “alba mater” — a white mother. Carini said that Occom never saw Wheelock ever again and never set foot on Dartmouth College. “I’m encouraged by [the repatriation] because it is a step in the right direction,” Calloway said. “It is an important first step towards restoring a relationship that was severely damaged a very long time ago.” Carini said that staff from the College’s libraries and the Hood Museum of Art attended workshops with the Mohegan Tribal Librarian and Tantaquidgeon Museum to better understand how to collaborate with Indigenous communities, as well as Occom’s role in the founding of Dartmouth. According to Carini, members from administrative offices such as the admissions office were also invited to these workshops. “We think [they] could benefit from better understanding of the story and the background and how to work with indigenous people a little bit more,” he said. According to Carini, the College is also “in conversation” with members of the Abenaki Tribe — the land of whom the College was built on — in Odanak, Quebec concerning tribal materials still held by the College. The process for any items to be repatriated has yet to be determined. One factor in determining what items should be repatriated is the question of how the item was originally sourced and if it was bought or stolen, Carini said. According to Carini, “a lot” of materials held by the Hood museum were originally sold by members of the Abenaki. “The Mohegan [repatriation] came up very quickly and we reacted to it but we want to prepare ourselves before we field any additional requests because there need to be some internal protocols in place for us to judge when it is most appropriate to return items,” Carini said. In regards to repatriating the Occom papers to the Mohegan Tribe, Carini said that he is “really excited.” “It’s very rare in my job that we get to have an opportunity to return [such documents] in such a direct way and in a way that starts taking some steps toward correcting harms from the past and creating reconciliation,” he said. Harris shared Carini’s optimism. “This repatriation marks the beginning of a new chapter in the shared history of the Mohegan People and the Dartmouth community, one in which Occom’s dream of an education for Native students moves closer to fulfillment,” she wrote.
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
Summit on Juniper apartments to provide undergraduate housing through next academic year
ANGELINA SCARLOTTA/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
BY BEN KORKOWSKI The Dartmouth Staff
At the start of spring term, about 100 undergraduate students moved into the Summit on Juniper apartment complex, located by Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, vice president of campus services Josh Keniston said. The complex was originally built for graduate student use next fall, but according to Keniston, undergraduate housing shortages motivated an earlier move-in. At the end of the fall term, the College estimated that between 100 and 150 students seeking residence this spring would be denied on-campus housing, Keniston said. When one of four buildings in the Summit on Juniper complex was completed ahead of schedule, the College partnered with Michaels Student Living — Summit on Juniper’s developer — to provide additional undergraduate housing. Keniston added that undergraduate students will have access to the finished building at the Summit on Juniper through the 2022-2023 academic year, with the final three buildings set to open by next fall. Graduate students will be given priority for the remaining apartments, followed by a “tenant waterfall” — a process in which other local residents may seek housing at the complex. Undergraduate students chose the apartments for a variety of reasons, ranging from better living conditions to improved amenities. “Summit on Juniper sounded a little too good to be true,” new tenant Jessica Feltrin ’23 said. “I didn’t want to be stuck with another roommate [on campus], and it would have been a very small room.” New tenant Jeff Walbridge ’24, on the other hand, said he was drawn to Summit on Juniper’s newer facilities. “This past fall and winter, I was in
PAGE 2
THE DARTMOUTH NEWS
[North Massachusetts Hall] where the facilities are older and run-down, so I was looking for a nicer place to live,” he said. The Summit on Juniper apartments offer private bathrooms and kitchens in each unit, as well as group study spaces and a community gathering space, Keniston said. Feltrin said her apartment’s kitchen includes an oven, stovetop, microwave, fridge, freezer and dishwasher — amenities that she “would never have in a dorm.” Her apartment also has its own washer and dryer, and residents have access to a 24-hour gym, she added. According to Keniston, students can commute to and from campus on shuttle buses running from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. on weekdays and with modified service on weekends. Students with cars are provided free parking in the Dewey Lot on campus, Feltrin added. Although students previously expressed concerns about the shuttles running on time, Feltrin said she has not encountered issues with transportation. “They have [been running on time],” Feltrin wrote. “There [are] several tracking systems too to help you find the next shuttle.” Both Feltrin and Walbridge said they usually drive to campus, with Walbridge calling the commute “practically nothing” compared to his 40-minute drive to high school. Walbridge added that the drive is “nice” because he can stop at one of the two local Co-op Food Stores for lunch during his commute. Despite physical amenities, some residents noted a lack of community living off campus. Walbridge said he has not attended any community events that have been organized in common spaces due to poor planning. “These events are at really inopportune times, like on Saturday nights when I’m on campus for on nights,” he said. “I know
maybe two people here… Really, the only time that I’ve seen people is in the parking lot.” Although Feltrin said she “met a lot of random people,” she said she has not gotten to know many of the other residents. Feltrin added that ongoing construction has further hindered the living experience at Summit on Juniper, calling parts of the complex “a little unwalkable.” “The main entrance to my building doesn’t connect to the main path, so I have to trek down dirt to get to the main path, which is a minor inconvenience,” Feltrin said. In addition to Summit on Juniper, Keniston said that the College had intended to address the undergraduate housing shortage with a new housing project on Lyme Road. Planning for the project has since been “paused” due to concerns from faculty about the project’s location and pushback from local residents, he added. Keniston added that the College views Summit on Juniper as “something that could inform a re-envisioned Lyme Road project.” “Part of the pause is to think about different ways to approach the Lyme Road project, to evaluate certain pieces more deeply,” Keniston said. “We’re looking at Summit on Juniper to figure out if there are certain types of experiences that students really value in that setting, that maybe we could make even better at Lyme Road.” Keniston said that after 2023, no definite plans have been made to lease Summit on Juniper apartments to undergraduate students. In the meantime, both Feltrin and Walbridge said they hope to continue living in Summit on Juniper through next year. “It really feels more like a home than a dorm,” Feltrin said.
You're in college – now what? Make the most of your college experience with IvyWise Academic Advising.
Visit www.IvyWise.com to learn more!
EPAC code addresses controversy from last year’s election cycle SEE CAMPAIGNING PAGE 1
messaging, just because different students respond differently to different types of campaigning,” Fosu said. “I do think it’s advantageous regarding students and candidates in these elections to have access to all of these avenues.” Fosu added that he plans to run for re-election this spring, and he “will be leveraging many of these new changes” in order to “reconnect with [his] constituency.” In addition, students will have the option to vote either in-person or through the Dartmouth Engage online portal, according to the 2022 election code. C a n d i d a t e s w i l l a l s o e n j oy heightened freedoms on social media. Whereas students previously required EPAC’s permission before posting any content online, candidates may now post without pre-approval, Abraham Paiss said. Additionally, candidates are no longer required to make a campaign-specific account and EPAC will allow unlimited posts on private accounts; previously, candidates were restricted to three campaign-related posts on personal accounts during the election cycle, according to the 2021 code. Candidates must still tag EPAC in all election-related content, physical or digital, Abraham Paiss added. “The reason that [the restrictions] initially existed is that some people had huge followings on social media and other people had very low followings on social media,” Abraham Paiss explained. “[But] there are also reasons that some people have accumulated that kind of following. Maybe they really care about things in the community, or they’ve been part of activism for a while. I wanted people to be able to use the platforms that they had built.” Fosu called the revision “beneficial to everyone,” agreeing that the new rules allow candidates to “use their existing platforms, rather than having to create entirely new ones.” The 2022 code also includes s eve r a l bu d g e t a r y rev i s i o n s — specifically, an increase from $250 to $300 for presidential campaign budgets, an increase from $95 to $125 for Class Council budgets and an increase from $65 to $75 for SA senator, Committee on Standards and Organizational Adjudication Committee campaigns.
In regards to the previous election code, Khan also raised concerns about EPAC’s previous general social media oversight. Last year, Khan and MuñozMcDonald were “held responsible” for social media posts made by other students, even if they were not officially affiliated with their campaign, Khan said. “That felt unrealistic,” Khan continued. “Even if they didn’t mention our campaign in the tweet, but they had previously said that they supported our campaign — we were still liable for that.” Khan added that sanctions only applied to students who “posted [abuse] publicly with their name,” while any private violations — such as the “plenty of abuse” she alleged her campaign received on Librex — went unpunished. “The other campaign, as far as I know, didn’t face any consequences over that [abuse],” Khan said. “They weren’t expected to put out a statement, telling people to be nice, whatever. So [EPAC] was inconsistent in its enforcement, but when it was enforced, it felt overreaching.” In general, Abraham Paiss said EPAC will not control online activity to the same extent that they did during last year’s election cycle. “The goal of EPAC is to work primarily in the background,” Abraham Paiss said. “I like when people don’t know that we exist. That means the campaign period is going smoothly.” While Hager said there are merits to certain regulations — such as avoiding a “popularity contest” or preventing electoral manipulation — he said that EPAC enforced “surprisingly stringent” rules prior to the code changes and should instead more fully operate in the background of SA elections. “The level of seriousness with which I’ve seen EPAC operate is definitely commendable,” Hager said. “They behave professionally. But at the same time, I don’t know that [restrictions are] commensurate with the level of competition we’ve seen in Student Assembly elections.” Although Abraham Paiss said she is content with the code as it stands, she recognized that the code is an “everevolving document.” “The code itself has been changed again and again each year for the past 17 [years],” Abraham Paiss said. “I think every single year little things will be changed again.”
DFU has the secondmost NDT wins among any collegiate debate team FROM DEBATE PAGE 1
how we competed and how we debated throughout the tournament.” Tur ner explained that in the preliminary rounds of the season, teams debate both the “affirmative” and “negative” sides of the resolution — the topic that debaters research for the season; in the elimination rounds, a coin toss determines which side is argued. He also said that this year’s resolution asked whether or not the United States should expand antitrust laws. “We’re entering a phase in which the largest tech companies –– Google, Amazon, Facebook –– have not been subjected to a lot of antitrust scrutiny, and that was part of the reason there’s a lot that has been written about that,” Turner said. “A number of Biden’s [officials] and appointees to the [Federal Trade Commission] have taken fairly aggressive policy positions on the expansion of antitrust laws into the new economy.” Shankar said the debaters received the debate resolution in July, where they beg an “cutting cards,” or gathering evidence and counterevidence for their argument. “Typically when you’re doing affirmative research, you ‘cut,’ or put together cases that are subsets of the resolution,” Shankar said. “... On the negative [side], you look for different counter-proposals, which we call counter-plans, and you also look for disadvantages to doing antitrust policy generally.” Turner said that this year the DFU had twelve students compete during the season, with Vergho, Shankar, Holland Bald ’25 and Gabe ChangDeutsch ’25 qualifying for the NDT.
Bald and Chang-Deutsch placed eleventh, according to Turner. Vergho, who won the NDT with Raam Tambe ’21 last year, said he felt “shock” as well as pride for his team after this year’s NDT win with Shankar. “Looking back on [the win] in the couple weeks since, I just [feel] a p p re c i at i o n fo r t h e h i s t o r i c a l moment –– not only for our success as a team this year, but also just generally [its significance to] all of the history of the Dartmouth debate program, and all of the Dartmouth teams that have competed for us,” he said. Shankar said he also felt surprised when the judges announced that he and Vergho had won. “I was honestly pretty shocked because I thought we were going to lose –– I didn’t feel too great about it, but I was really happy,” he said. “I’d been working [for] a long time for it, so it felt really good to finally win.” Turner said he believes that the DFU has put themselves back on the “competitive map where we belong” in the last two years. While a win for the third year in a row has never been done before by any university, he said he feels confident that the DFU will have another promising season next year. “Regardless of what combination of debaters come back, we’re going to have a strong team, and we’d like to be in a position to try and win the tournament again,” Turner said. “‘Third times the charm’ is asking [for] a lot that has never been done before, but it’s the type of program that can put together sustained success –– and that’s what we aim to achieve all the time.”
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
PAGE 3
THE DARTMOUTH OPINION
THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD
Verbum Ultimum: An Apple a Day
The price and availability of nutritious food options at Dartmouth Dining locations is detrimental to students’ wellbeing.
Dartmouth Dining Services — the company that operates the dining halls and cafes on Dartmouth’s campus — has gotten heat for many issues throughout the years, from absurdly long lines at the beginning of the fall term to reducing the hours of many dining locations following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the company has swiftly addressed some of these shortcomings, another clear issue has yet to be confronted — the limited amount of affordable, healthy options at Dartmouth Dining locations. Dartmouth Dining is the main food source for Dartmouth students, as all students living in campus housing are required by the College to purchase a meal plan. As such, it is vital that Dartmouth Dining’s offerings are comprehensive, affordable and healthy. However, the high price and low availability of fruits and vegetables at many Dartmouth Dining locations restricts students’ access to healthy food options. Eating a well-balanced diet should not mandate consumption of a salad or an apple (which are the few offerings available at nearly every Dartmouth Dining location) — there should be the same abundance of nutritious offerings around campus as there are fried or processed foods. When entering any Dartmouth Dining location — with the exception of the all-you-can-eat Class of 1953 Commons — students can choose from many different variations of carbohydrates to fill their meals each day. From fried onion rings and quesadillas at the Courtyard Cafe, to pasta and stir fry at Collis, to pastries and greasy sandwiches at Novack Cafe, there are few options for those seeking a well-balanced meal. Granted, students can find singular bananas and apples as well as pre-
packaged salads at these locations, but if these items do not fit your tastes or your dietary restrictions, there are practically no other sources of fruits and vegetables available for students. Furthermore, the cost of many of these options is exorbitant compared to the unhealthier alternatives. For example, a fruit cup at Courtyard Cafe costs nearly $7 while a burger costs $7.75. This means that when students are examining their meal options and trying to budget their meal swipes and DBA, even eating a normal elementary school lunch of a PB&J and a fruit cup is much less attractive than a burger and fries—despite the fact that these two meals cost the same—as the latter is much more filling. While one may argue that the price disparity between fruit cups and burgers is due to the fact that fruit simply costs more, a quick trip to a local grocery store suggests otherwise. Let’s look at one popular fruit that is readily available in grocery stores and our own dining halls: Apples. At Dartmouth Dining locations, an apple costs around $1.25. This doesn’t seem wholly unreasonable at first. However, a trip to Price Chopper in nearby West Lebanon earlier this week revealed that the same apple at the supermarket costs a meager $0.65. This means that even the cheapest fruits such as apples have a nearly 100% markup at Dartmouth Dining locations. We are not arguing that the exorbitant cost of food at Dartmouth Dining locations is leading to a hungry student body — there are plenty of packaged and processed foods available to ensure that students meet their daily caloric intake. Rather, the sheer lack of access to affordable fruits and vegetables contributes
GABRIEL MODISETT ’25: SPRING, THE GOOD AND THE BAD
to a corpus of Dartmouth students who may be fed, but are not well-nourished. The benefits of regular produce consumption are clear: It has been shown to boost one’s immune system and is correlated with better mental health. What’s also apparent are the negative side effects of limited access to produce: Students getting sick more often, having to purchase vitamins and supplements to meet recommended nutrient intake levels and struggling to keep up with their jam-packed schedules because they’re running on iced coffee and Pop-Tarts. What’s more, having access to a variety of foods has been shown to be crucial for building healthy relationships with food — and particularly for successful recovery from an eating disorder such as anorexia. Many people recovering from anorexia prefer fruits and vegetables meaning that the limited availability of produce outside of salads, bananas and apples fails to provide the variety that is crucial for recovery. Furthermore, in terms of price, foods that are supposed to be nothing more than a supplement to a meal, such as a fruit cup, are being treated as though they are nutritionally equivalent to a meal — which can establish problematic relationships with food and complicate recovery even further. For those who struggle with social anxiety, the limited availability of nutritious, healthy options at most dining locations is exacerbated by how crowded ’53 Commons is. For these students, eating at the main dining hall on campus — which also happens to be the dining location with the most readily available healthy food options — is a precarious, unattractive option, especially if their meal plan of choice is a less expensive one with fewer swipes. This leaves these students with even fewer means of accessing nutritious food. Quite frankly, as an institution in a rural location where on-campus students must be on a meal plan, the lack of fresh produce available to students is unacceptable. An abundance of healthy, affordable food options on campus is vital for the mental and physical wellbeing of the student body, and it is unfair for students to have to choose between having enough DBA and meal swipes to last a term and eating a balanced, healthy diet. While we acknowledge that students have the option to purchase food off-campus, there are few places to do so within walking distance, nor is this choice equitable for students from low-income backgrounds. To address these issues Dartmouth Dining must expand its offerings of healthy and nutritious offerings, not just at the ’53 Commons, but in every dining location. Additionally, the pricing for healthy options must be such that purchasing healthy options is attractive for students. One possible means of making
healthy foods more affordable includes marking up less healthy options such as candy, chips and soda in exchange for marking down the price of fruits and vegetables. In short, Dartmouth Dining must make offering a variety of healthy, nutritious options at all of its dining locations a priority to ensure students get the vitamins and nutrients they need to live healthy, happy lives. The editorial board consists of opinion staff columnists, the opinion editors, the executive editors and the editor-in-chief.
NINA SLOAN ’24: SO... WHEN’S GREEN KEY?
EMILY LU, Editor-in-Chief MIA RUSSO, Production Executive Editor LAUREN ADLER & ANDREW SASSER, News Executive Editors
AMY PARK, Publisher
THOMAS BROWN, CASSIE MONTEMAYOR THOMAS, JACOB STRIER Managing Editors
PRODUCTION EDITORS KAMI ARABIAN & NATALIE DOKKEN, Opinion Editors ARIELLE FEUERSTEIN & CARIS WHITE, Mirror Editors WILL ENNIS & JASON NORRIS, NORRIS Sports Editors DANIELLE MULLER & ELEANOR SCHIFINO, SCHIFINO, Arts Editors CAROLINE KRAMER & ANGELINA SCARLOTTA, Photo Editors PHILIP SURENDRAN, Data Visualization Editor LUCY HANDY & ZOORIEL TAN, TAN Design Editors GRANT PINKSTON, PINKSTON Templating Editor ELEANOR RYAN, Multimedia Editors FARAH LINDSEY-ALMADANI & EMMA NGUYEN, Engagement Editors NINA SLOAN Crossword Editor
BUSINESS DIRECTORS AMY HALDER Director of Operations DIVYA CHUNDURU & SAMUEL WINCHESTER Strategy Directors MEHAK BATRA & ISABELLE KITCHEL Development Directors BENJAMIN HINSHAW & SAMRIT MATHUR Digital Media & Analytics Directors EMILY GAO & BRIAN WANG Finance & Sales Directors EMMA JOHNSON Director of Software
SUBMISSIONS: We welcome letters and guest columns. All submissions must include the author’s name and affiliation with Dartmouth
College, and should not exceed 250 words for letters or 700 words for columns. The Dartmouth reserves the right to edit all material before publication. All material submitted becomes property of The Dartmouth. Please email submissions to editor@thedartmouth.com. For any content that an author or artist submits and that The Dartmouth agrees to publish, the author or artist grants The Dartmouth a royaltyfree, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide and exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish and create derivative works from such content.
PAGE 4
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
THE DARTMOUTH ARTS
Hood redefines American art in day of panels and conversation BY Armita Mirkarimi The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on April 12, 2022. The Hood Museum of Art hosted “Convening: Re-Envisioning Histories of American Art” on April 7, which included three panel discussions about “This Land,” the Hood’s first exhibition to feature traditional and contemporary Native American works alongside the broader American art collection. This exhibit is focused on collecting art pieces that better represent diverse communities — both in the artists and in the subjects of the art — and restructuring the canon of American art. Jami Powell, the Hood’s curator of Indigenous art and lecturer in the Native American studies department, curated the “This Land” exhibition with colleagues Barbara J. MacAdam, Thomas H. Price, Morgan E. Freeman and Michael Hartman. For the exhibition, Powell brought together the Hood’s American art collection with the Native American art collection. “My colleagues and I applied for and received a $75,000 grant from the Terra Foundation for American art to host the ‘Convening,’ where we’re bringing scholars and curators, engaging in conversations about re-envisioning American art and how we are trying to make art history and museums more equitable and inclusive,” Powell said. The event comprised of three panel conversations: “Complicating Histories: Curating Across Disciplinary Boundaries,” “Reframing Collection Practices and Care” and “Redefining ‘American’ Art Across Disciplinary Boundaries,” which considered definitions of American art, ethics in museum collections and the narrative power of Indigenous art. After the discussions, the panelists and curators spent the day workshopping the presentations for an
eventual publication. “Out of this, we will produce a peerreviewed scholarly publication rather than a typical catalog, which has a couple of essays and is heavy on exhibition,” Powell said. “We’ll be producing a book of ten to twelve essays, inspired by the present presentation’s trends.” Ish McLaughlin ’22 and Parker Hershberger ’22, students in NAS 30.21: Native American Art and Material Culture, which is taught by Powell, attended the panel discussions. Mclaughlin noted the intersection between the course’s focus and the Hood’s exploration of the erasure of Indigenous artists. “I really like the course design because there is a lot of interaction with the Hood Museum,” McLaughlin said. “The fact that we’re talking about what American art is in the panels today shows just how important that interaction is.” Michael Hartman, associate curator of American Art at the Hood, said he saw the panel discussions as a launching point for highlighting Indigenous art. “One of my favorite moments in the exhibition is the side-by-side of a Navajo saddle blanket and a painting by Georgia O’Keeffe,” Hartman said. “The saddle blanket has a mountain range pattern on it that looks a bit like a mountain range in Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting. Once we put them side-by-side, we realized that this is the same mountain range and the same colors were used. It’s a really interesting conversation about how the same landscape is depicted by these two individuals.” Hartman highlighted that the event, panels and subsequent publications are specifically relevant to Dartmouth students. “Given the College’s history, I think events like the ‘Convening’ are important for Dartmouth students to take advantage of,” Hartman said. “Dartmouth students are really interested in challenging inherited narratives.”
Photo by Lars Blackmore / Courtesy of the Hood Museum of Art
The panel discussions also had a national audience: The event was livestreamed to art historians across the country via Vimeo and the Hood’s Facebook Page, and members of the Upper Valley community also participated in the conversations. During the second panel, “Reframing Collection Practices and Care,” Mindy N. Besaw, curator of American Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, was transparent about the long road ahead towards diversifying exhibitions of American art. “Last year, there were three paintings and one sculpture [at Crystal Bridges] prior to 1900 by an African-American artist,” Besaw said. “If you expanded it to 1960, we had a total of 13. That’s not very many.”
Besaw further emphasized that the addition of Indigenous voices into American art collections creates conversations about the exploitative realities of America’s past, calling on Indigenous community members from Arkansas to collaborate in increasing the museum’s diversity. However, many challenges still await curators like Besaw in diversifying their American art collections. “We know from our data points that if we acquire 50 new artists a year and half of those are racially and ethnically diverse in 20 years, we will be only 35% diverse,” Besaw said. “Now we’re not collecting 50 new artists a year, so it’s really daunting, but it’s worthwhile and we can make a difference.” Like Besaw, Powell sees the inclusion
of Indigenous voices in American art as a long and arduous, but vital, process. “I have to continually remind myself and my colleagues that this is the first step,” Powell said. “This is an opening of a much larger conversation that’s going to take place over the next several decades.” The conversations that took place at the “Convening” are just the beginning of changing the field of curation and art history itself, according to Powell. “This show isn’t necessarily a solution to all of the questions we’re raising,” Powell said. “But rather an important first step for the Hood Museum, for the Dartmouth community, but also [for the] broader museum field to grapple with ongoing issues of colonialism and dispossession and the gatekeeping that has always been a part of our institutions.”
Review: Syd’s ‘Broken Hearts Club’ lacks usual unique identity
BY John Renda The Dartmouth
This article was originally published on April 14, 2022 Since the days of her association w i t h t h e n ow - reve re d h i p - h o p supergroup Odd Future, Sydney Bennett, otherwise known as Syd, has distinguished herself as a leading voice in the alternative R&B genre. Her work with The Internet — a band that also includes respected singer and guitarist Steve Lacy — has produced two critically acclaimed albums: 2015’s “Ego Death” and 2018’s “Hive Mind.” In 2017, Syd extended this success to her solo work, releasing her debut album “Fin.” “Broken Hearts Club,” Syd’s most recent album, was announced in March following almost five years of virtual solo silence. When I first heard “Fin” a few years ago, I was instantly mesmerized by its musical power. The infinitely relaxed harmonies of Syd’s group recordings persisted onto the project; cool guitar riffs, soft drums and Syd’s mellow vocals made it the perfect soundtrack for a smooth Sunday car ride. Yet the element of “Fin” that truly blew me
away was how Syd — in the vein of neo-soul greats like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill before her — coupled this chill vibe with a highly personal and sentimental musical commentary, in which Syd shared her thoughts on friendship, love and sexuality. The maturity of her debut album was in large part why I was excited to listen to “Broken Hearts Club.” Without a doubt, “Broken Hearts Club” retains many of the musical qualities I admired on “Fin.” Just like on its predecessor, the songs on this album feel like they were ready-made for relaxation. With her sophomore effort, however, I am left feeling as though Syd lacks the punch she so effectively displayed on her debut. The eighties-tinted guitar riffs and slow drums of “CYBAH”— the album’s opening track — sounds like the musical embodiment of flowing water, and both Syd’s and guest Lucky Daye’s quiet singing convey an impressive vocal range without ever disturbing the nonchalance of the track. The rest of the album maintains this groovy, lo-fi atmosphere. “Fast Car,” another personal highlight f ro m t h e p ro j e c t , i m p re s s i ve l y manages to feel both calm and
upbeat simultaneously. The shredding guitar riffs and fast-paced drum beat — which sound as though they were ripped from a synthpop anthem — are masterfully counterbalanced by a contemplative piano melody as Syd sings about the joys of being in love. “BMHWDY” — an acronym for “Break My Heart Why Don’t You” — stands as yet another repackaging of the album’s constantly relaxed ambiance. The guitars on the track are slower and more mellow — and their pairing with the track’s drums reminded me of a lo-fi hip-hop beat. Still, Syd’s soft vocals complement the instrumental perfectly in order to keep the listener feeling at peace, yet again. In many ways, “Broken Hearts Club” seems to show that Syd is following in the footsteps of pop contemporaries like The Weeknd and Charli XCX by adding a slightly more retro, synthheavy aesthetic to her sound’s existing foundations. Even in this regard, however, Syd sometimes falls short. While the tracks I have highlighted strike that balance between catchy and chill that keeps listeners engaged, other songs on the album fall into a generic profile of lo-fi R&B sound
that make them underwhelming. The tracks “Control” and “Getting Late” are entirely forgettable, with Syd’s voice drowning in the formulaic instrumentals instead of building off of them. Unfortunately, this also extends to the final track “Missing Out,” which features perhaps the most boring instrumental on the album: a redundant drum and synth pattern that tires after the first 30 seconds. On this track, Syd’s passionate vocals feel as though they are trying to salvage it from its instrumental weakness. Beyond this, though, I think the ultimate pitfall of “Broken Hearts Club” is that it lacks the depth that allowed Syd’s “Fin” to emerge as a truly powerful project. The strongest — and perhaps most surprising — example of this comes in “Right Track,” featuring St. Louis rapper Smino, who has made a name for himself in hip-hop through his thoughtful, creative lyrics. In my opinion, the true disappointment of “Right Track” is that it has every component it needs to be a successful song. The effusive Spanish guitar beat grabbed my attention instantly, yet neither Syd nor Smino feels as though they have anything substantive
to say on this track — its two-and-ahalf minute duration instead flies by without a single lyric of note being espoused. On “Heartfelt Freestyle,” whose title seems to hint at thematic depth, Syd once again disappoints in this regard. Her lyrics remain at the surface level, coming off as a fragmented and largely incoherent expression of her attraction to her partner. There is no doubt in my mind that these tracks are pleasant to listen to, just like most of the album. Unfortunately, however, they represent what I view as the chronic f law of “Broken Hearts Club.” Whereas the songs on “Fin” were often equal parts fun and deeply beautiful, “Broken Hearts Club” misses out on the latter dimension. The album leaves us with a decent amount to feel, but comparatively little to think about once we are done. For me, the regrettable effect of this is that it keeps “Broken Hearts Club” from having the unique identity I recognized on her debut album. With her next release, I am left to hope that Syd can return to grasping at more. Rating:
¶¶
Author Torrey Peters GR’13 shares on gender at Visibility:2022
BY Gianna Totani The Dartmouth
This article was originally published on April 14, 2022 Visibility:2022 hosted acclaimed novelist Torrey Peters GR ‘13 for a conversation about gender and creative writing on April 5. This is the third year the Office of Pluralism and Leadership has hosted Visibility, the annual student-led campaign promoting gender equity and an end to gender and power-based violence. After the conversation, moderator and professor Mingwei Huang led a question and answer session with the audience. The event concluded with a book signing. H u a n g, w h o i s a n a s s i s t a n t professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said that she was thrilled to have the opportunity to moderate a conversation with Peters, as she came across “Detransition,
Baby” right after it was released in January 2021. Now, the novel is up for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for the John Leonard Prize, longlisted for the Women’s Prize and selected for Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club. Huang and Peters both referred to the book as “T for T,” meaning written by a trans author for a primarily trans audience. However, as a cis woman, Huang said she was able to thoroughly enjoy the powerful, thought-provoking novel. “Engaging with Peters’ work is not only about cis women or people trying to learn about trans issues or how to become better allies,” Huang said. “I think engaging with trans narratives and trans lives also helps cis women think about their own gender and sexuality more.” Professor Huang kicked off the conversation by asking Peters about her time at Dartmouth during the 2010s — a very different time for trans
visibility, politics, cultural production and writing. Peters described the year she spent at Dartmouth as “formative.” Prior to Dartmouth, Peters lived in Chicago where she had come out as transgender but hadn’t begun using hormones. She explained how the lingo was different back then, as she was using terms such as “crossdresser” and “genderqueer” to define herself. Peters stated that she had two stand-out experiences during her time at Dartmouth. First, she had an incredible advisor. Second, in the search for a queer community, Peters found a “cross-dresser” bar in Massachusetts. Peters explained that she met two 50-year-old transgender women there — she didn’t get along with them well, but, Peters said she could not stop thinking about them. “I thought, they’re doing it, and I’m not,” Peters said. “I was kind of obsessed with them. In my head I was like, why am I thinking about these
two? And I realized I was jealous.” Soon after this experience, Peters decided she wanted to start hormones. Peters met with an endocrinologist at Dick’s House and was able to get a prescription. “And then I was transitioning,” Peters said. “I am really grateful to Dartmouth that it happened. I [didn’t] even know that they did that intentionally — I just don’t think they had protocol around it. And as a result, it worked fantastically for me.” T he moderated conver sation continued with questions written by the Visibility:2022 committee members about Peters’ journey to becoming a self-published author. To wrap up, Huang asked Peters if she had any advice for her college-aged self. “There’s a lot I wished [I had known], but I think a lot of it was that I was just afraid,” Peters said. “I wish I had recognized how much
of what I had done [to myself during that time] was unfair.” T h e Vi s i b i l i t y : 2 0 2 2 S t u d e n t Planning Committee includes Kendra Elk Looks Back ‘24, Beatriz Hidalgo ‘ 2 5 , A n n e Jo h n a k i n ‘ 2 3 , E l i z a Mahoney ‘22, Irina Sandoval ‘23 and Ann Tran ‘25. The committee is chaired by Jimena Perez ‘23, who began the talk by giving a background on this year’s visibility campaign. Perez said she hopes that the Visibility:2022 conversation isn’t a one-time interaction for students in attendance with OPAL, as she would like to see students continue to be more involved with the office’s programming. “Visibility is the mission,” Perez said. “I do hope that people took from this event the importance of making space for these conversations. I think a lot of students benefit from [these conversations], especially those who might have similar interests as the speakers.”
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
PAGE 5
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS
SPORTS
Senior Spring: Thomas Lingard shines with energy as a leader BY LANIE EVERETT The Dartmouth Staff
This article was originally published on April 11, 2022. As a senior captain of the middle distance running team, Thomas Lingard ’22 said that being in his senior spring has “recontextualized” what it means for him to be a student-athlete. According
to Lingard, serving as a source of encouragement for his team and simply “enjoying the process” are the objectives at the forefront of his mind this season. “It’s more like I’m going to train, I’m going to get to these races, but it’s been a good career,” Lingard said. “It’s been a good run, so whatever happens happens.” As a freshman from Cambridge, Mass., Lingard described feeling “out of
place” and experiencing some “imposter syndrome” when he first arrived in Hanover. He attributed coming to feel at home with the team due to the guidance of the team’s upperclassmen — then ’19s and ’20s. After spending time as an underclassmen focusing on his personal successes, Lingard said that he has expanded his mindset so that his leadership benefits the wellbeing and encouragement of the team.
Source: Courtesy of Thomas Lingard
Lingard and teammates reflected on his contributions to the program as “the heart” of the team and looked ahead to one last ride this spring season.
“I think he is the heart of our team,” fellow mid-distance runner Aidan Robinson ’24 said. “He is always bringing an enthusiasm that sometimes we don’t have.” Robinson said that even in the team’s most mundane moments — lifts after workouts — Lingard “will always get super hyped up,” and that he brought “so much energy to lifts when there is none.” Distance runner Isaac Weber ’22 said that Lingard was one of the first to welcome him to the track team after Weber walked on his freshman fall, praising Lingard’s support as a teammate and a friend. “[Lingard] is incredibly loyal and principled,” Weber said. “If he says he is going to do something he does it, and that applies to the track.” Weber recalled this discipline during an indoor race in their sophomore winter in which Lingard had the flu and was feeling sick in the moments leading up to the 1000-meter race. After deciding to race anyway, Lingard shot out ahead of everybody at the 800-meter mark. Weber and a fellow teammate were able to ride Lingard’s momentum, placing first, second and third and all achieving personal records by about three seconds each. “I saw him just shoot past me like a bat out of hell,” Weber said. “It was an awesome example of active leadership. He was racing well for himself, but he also made the move there…to also motivate me and my friend at the end of the race.”
That same winter, Lingard placed fourth at the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track and Field Championships for which he recalled being in “the best shape of his life.” While Lingard was looking forward to keeping that form in the spring outdoor season, the pandemic ended those hopes. “For a while there we didn’t even know when we were going to have to race next,” Lingard said. “Having to train through that was probably one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to face as an athlete at Dartmouth.” Now, after two years off of the track, Lingard reflected on his proudest moments in a new way that centers the team: “seeing victory at [the regional] New England [meet], being a threat at Heps, putting ourselves in the ring and being able to fight against competitive teams — I’ve been most proud of being part of something bigger,” Lingard said. As the track and field team moves deeper into its outdoor season, Lingard said he is focused on wanting to prove himself after losing three outdoor seasons to COVID-19. “I still feel like I have some pretty lofty goals for the season,” Lingard said. “I feel like I’ve gotten into pretty good shape and I feel like I haven’t really been able to prove myself outdoors since I’ve only had one real outdoor season at Dartmouth.” Lingard, who is a computer science modified with engineering major, plans to move to Boston after graduation to work as a software engineer at a cybersecurity firm.
Men’s tennis battles hard despite three consecutive Ivy League losses BY STEPHANIE SOWA The Dartmouth Staff
Men’s tennis has commenced the 2022 Ivy League season. Currently, the Big Green is 8-9 and 0-3 in conference matches. The team started its Ivy League play on April 2 against the only three nationally ranked Ivy League teams: No. 15 Harvard University, No. 58 Cornell University and No. 23 Columbia University. The team fell in a 7-0 loss to Harvard, followed by a 4-1 loss to Cornell and a 7-0 loss to Columbia on April 9 and 10, respectively. While the team was not able to secure a point against Harvard, head coach Xander Centenari’13 felt the men brought resilience to the competition. “Our guys are fighting hard and we are playing some really good doubles,” Centenari said. “It hasn’t quite shown but we are playing very close… we just can’t quite put it together at the same time.” Pierce Widdecombe ’22 and Alex Knox-Jones ’25 engaged in a tight doubles battle against their Harvard counterparts in the second position, losing the first set of the unfinished match 5-3. Logan Chang ’24 and his doubles partner, Andy Ilie ’24, had a close 6-4 loss in the third doubles spot. While Chang grew up in New York and Ilie in Connecticut, the two have known each other throughout high school tennis. “We’re the same year, and we grew up playing with each other before college too,” said Chang about Ilie. “We just started playing doubles actually this season with our first match against Harvard.” Following the Harvard match, this
past weekend the Big Green played two more Ivy matches away: Cornell on April 9 and Columbia on April 10. “We’ve now played eight matches in a row on the road, and this is the type of challenge that we as a program embrace, but it certainly hasn’t been easy playing at different sites and competing against really high level teams,” Centenari said. Dartmouth fell to Cornell 4-1, which was an improvement from the 7-0 loss to Harvard. Chang and Ilie secured a 6-3 win over Cornell in the third doubles position, while Knox-Jones had a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Cornell’s Evan Bynoe in the fourth singles spot. “We don’t start singles strongly enough: We lose a lot of first sets unfortunately, but then we always seem to fight back in the second set,” KnoxJones said. “It’s a pretty comfortable first set and then a close second set, so we can fight back when our backs are against the wall, making it tough for our opponents.” The following day, Columbia defeated the Big Green 7-0 for Dartmouth’s third consecutive Ivy League loss. Widdecombe and KnoxJones triumphed over the Kotzen and Ruger doubles partners with an impressive 6-3 win in the second doubles position. As for the singles, Dartmouth was not able to secure any wins, but Dominik Pauli ’23 narrowly lost his match with a score of 6-4, 6-4. “Each match, we’ve gotten better at starting during the doubles point… but we just need to be able to close out,” Knox-Jones said. “We’ve had some match points that we’ve lost, but it’s a positive that we’re getting closer.” The beginning of this season has been a challenging one. According to
Knox-Jones, he views Harvard and Columbia as the two best teams in the conference, which poses difficulties for starting strong as a young team. He added that the team is placing emphasis on gaining necessary experience this season in order to flourish in the future. “We have three freshmen playing, a couple of sophomores, two juniors and we only lose one guy [next year],” said Knox-Jones. “Hopefully, if we can learn some valuable lessons this year, then next year we will be in a much better position to do some damage winning matches.” Chang noted that these high-level teams are providing a good benchmark of where Dartmouth stands in the league and what the team can strive for in its upcoming competitions. Centenari said he is focused on improving week by week in practice. “We continue to find higher and higher levels of focus in practice and an ability to prepare and be ready for the weekend,” Centenari said. Looking ahead, the Big Green will finally play some home matches in Hanover. Depending on the weather, the matches will either be inside at the Boss Tennis Center or on Dartmouth’s outdoor courts. The Big Green will face the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday, April 16 followed by Princeton University on Saturday, April 17. These are two of the four remaining Ivy League matches for Dartmouth. “We are looking to come into every weekend as prepared as we can be, focusing on the things we can control, playing with great energy, toughness and belief, and coming out and competing hard,” Centenari said. “If we do that, the score will take care of itself.”
Saint Thomas Episcopal Church
Celebrate the joy of EASTER in faithful community
Easter Vigil Saturday 8pm Easter Day Sunday 8 & 10:30am In-person & online St Thomas Episcopal Church & Episcopal Campus Ministry All Are Welcome - no exceptions - to worship, love, serve and grow KYLE SPENCER/THE DARTMOUTH
In the last two weeks, the Big Green fell to No. 15 Harvard University, No. 58 Cornell University and No. 23 Columbia University.
www.saintthomashanover.org 603.643.4155 9 W Wheelock St, Hanover, NH
PAGE 6
MIRROR THE DARTMOUTH MIRROR
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2022
The History Beneath Us: A Spotlight on ANTH 50.47 STORY
By Marius DeMartino & Caroline Mahony
This article was originally published on April 13, 2022. During the 2019 celebration of Dartmouth’s 250th anniversary, anthropology professor Jesse Casana proposed a project to — quite literally — unearth some of the College’s rich history. Casana felt inspired to investigate Dartmouth’s subterra after observing some not-very-archaeological excavation of the lawn outside his office in Silsby Hall. He noticed that as crews were digging trenches to lay pipes for the new Irving Institute, they had unwittingly unearthed the remains of the foundation of an 1850s-era household. “I just wanted, first of all, people to know that Dartmouth has a very long history going back to the 1760s when it
was first settled by Euro-Americans, but also longer than that before — there’s been people here for 10,000 years,” Casana said. In the spring of 2019, Casana enlisted students, faculty and community members to participate in a project that came to be known as “Digging Dartmouth.” The project was a success: Casana and those involved excavated and inspected a small site on the western front lawn of Baker-Berry Library. The two-by-two meter site was the previous location of the privy (bathroom) of Ripley cottage, constructed by Sylvanus Ripley in 1786. During the 2019 dig, Casana and his team found items ranging from a rubber comb and champagne bottles to monocles and ivory teeth. They also found items that began to tell a story of the women and children who had lived in the cottage
OLYMPIA NAGEL-CALAND/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
over the years, such as children’s toys and hair styling tools dating back to the early 19th century. Thrilled by the success of “Digging Dartmouth,” Casana planned to teach a hands-on archeological class to further explore Dartmouth’s past in 2020. The pandemic derailed this plan, and it wasn’t until this Spring that his new class, ANTH 50.47, “Field Methods of Archaeology,” made its debut. The class is uniquely based on applying archaeological methods in the real world. According to Jonathan Alperstein, the class’s teaching assistant, only one day per week is lecture, while Thursdays are reserved for fieldwork. Last week, for example, the class visited the Trescott reservoir sites — an “area that used to house Hanover’s poor farm, where the homeless, mentally ill and anyone the town didn’t like would live,” Alperstein said. With depressions from the abandoned houses still present, he called the site “a cool time capsule, because no one has been living there in over a hundred years.” The class’s assignments aren’t typical, either. For homework, students have created maps documenting different sites and artifacts from their own surveys, as well as other assignments using resources like Google Earth to envision promising dig sites. Anthropology major Julia King ’23 has had some experience doing fieldwork elsewhere, but she said this class is her first hands-on experience in the field while at Dartmouth. “On a personal level, I love the fieldwork part. That’s why my focus is
archaeology,” King said. Despite the involvement in high-level fieldwork, the class is not overly exclusive: King said that out of a class of 16, only four students were upperclassmen studying anthropology and no prerequisite courses were required. Decker Jackson ’25 is one of the class’s younger students; having taken a class with Casana during freshman fall, he was eager to join the professor’s spring offering. “I didn’t have the chance to take any archaeology classes in high school because it’s not offered, but here I jumped on it in the fall,” Jackson said. “ I loved it. I was like ‘this archaeology anthropology thing is really cool and I need to do more of this’ … and here we are, we are sort of his guinea pigs in this class, since this is the first time he’s taught it on campus.” The culminating experience of the class is particularly special — much like Casana’s original 2019 dig, students will collaborate to choose a dig site of their own. King recalled being shocked at the level of student independence on this project. “I didn’t expect having any say in this process,” she said. “Normally you don’t have any say in this sort of thing until postdoc.” The class has already explored several potential site options. King highlighted the site in front of Silsby Hall — but she noted that it was impacted by the construction of new steam lines for the Irving Institute. The class has also considered looking into the site of Payne’s Tavern in front of present-day Fairchild Hall, but obstacles like the lawn’s public sculpture pose a
barrier to excavation. Other potential sites on campus include the backyard of the Chinese language house and a plot on the property of the Sphinx Tomb. Alperstein emphasized the class’s importance in understanding the Upper Valley through methods “besides the few privileged wealthier men who wrote down Dartmouth’s history.” The archaeological sites, he said, give accounts of “women and children and people of color living here” and “stories that weren’t written down.” Casana also expressed his hope that archaeology could offer insight into Dartmouth and Hanover’s history beyond what — and who — was written about in John King Lord’s “History of Dartmouth,” which was published in 1928. He added that “archeology gives us … a window into everybody else.” Beyond the cultural value of the class, it represents a major step forward for Dartmouth itself. Alperstein said that Dartmouth has “a low level of archaeology” compared to other peer institutions and added that this class is an important step by Casana in bringing Dartmouth to the forefront. Casana’s archaeology class allows his students to choose their own site, but all of campus can get involved in the actual digging. As King said in a testament to the class’s attempt to open up the field of archaeology, “anyone can reach out and come see what it’s like for a couple hours.” When they start digging, perhaps it will be some lucky passerby’s chance to discover a 19th-century monocle, a gold ring or a pair of false ivory teeth.
Productivity Paradox The Transition of Power STORY
By Selin Hos
This article was originally published on April 13, 2022. 24 hours. 1440 minutes. 86400 seconds. If we could distill life into a series of numbers, this would be it — just a collection of seconds, minutes, hours and days, one after the other. With each stroke of midnight, we’re given 24 hours to spend however we’d like. Personally, I find it beautiful that every person will experience them differently. With the gift of time comes a feeling of responsibility. And at an institution like Dartmouth, this may be driven by a feeling of scarcity, because the years we’ve been allotted will soon be over. This feeling of existential dread, if you will, might also stem from the realization that inconsequential moments hold a significance beyond themselves. The minutiae of the day — in which we’re waking up, getting dressed, grabbing meals, standing in lines and reading for hours — are what end up defining our days and, consequently, our lives. Dartmouth has its constraints, but in reality, being in college means we have a lot of control over our lives now. That kind of control — the freedom to choose your major, your community and where the rest of your life is headed — is scary. And it seems like the experience of reckoning with independence has existed for quite some time. However, being overcommitted isn’t necessarily the lesser of the two evils. After all, how could anyone not be near enlightenment while splayed out sunbathing on the Green during the first sunny spring day? I can almost feel the essence of really living, amidst the chatter of students playing Spikeball, but it eludes me nonetheless. This doesn’t mean, however, that we’re destined to live with an angst akin to that of Holden Caulfield’s. Our lives — extraordinary, successful, mundane and beautifully normal — are lived because we feel pressure to “make something of ourselves” in spite of the fact that we are running out of time to do so. Perhaps the urge to conquer ever-elusive time is inherently human, or maybe we’re all just in over our heads. After all, how many nights have we found ourselves racing against the clock, trying to meet a deadline at the expense of our sleep or food or other basic human necessities? And how sustainable is it, really, when we have every single minute of every hour planned out on our calendar? From our classes to our clubs and our meals and workouts, we’ve planned it all. For God’s sake, even our naps are scheduled. Occasionally there are moments — scheduled in the Google Calendar of course — in which I ask myself, is this really what it’s meant to be? Is it normal for me to be
STORY swept up in this inevitable, all-consuming hustle and bustle? If so, then maybe we can all take solace in the fact that this style of hour-to-hour living is normal: at least here at Dartmouth, it’s not just you feeling this way. But the strangest thing of all is that often, this isn’t enough. So many people — myself included — have decided that to live means to do it all, preferably even within the first quarter of our lives. To this day, I have yet to understand where exactly this sense of urgency, or impending doom, stems from. When was it decided that our formative years would be tainted with pervasive stress, stemming from an arbitrary notion of success? It is absurd that campus culture has many of us believing that living overcommitted is somehow living better. How sustainable is it, really, to be involved in every club on campus? Or to be constantly running from a meal, to a class, to a hike, to the library, to a frat, to bed — and then to do it all over again? God forbid that I spend a day that isn’t as productive as the last. When I do so I’m plagued with guilt for failing to take advantage of every second that I’ve been given at this place. And it’s awful that I hear this sentiment echoed around me every single day. It seems that even as we do the seemingly impossible, sucking the very marrow out of every minute of every day, we are not doing enough. Somehow we could be doing more, even as we run ourselves into the ground. The truth of the matter is that we only have so much of ourselves to give. As much as it may hurt even my own irrational and idealistic feelings, the very nature of time dictates that we cannot do it all. By doing something, we are effectively rejecting the infinitely many other possibilities that we could be living out at that moment. Realizing this used to stress me out (FOMO much?) but this notion can be comforting instead of anxiety provoking. By definition, to be human is to have limits; you cannot give 100% of yourself to everything all of the time, and by trying to, you’re gathering a smattering of superficial experiences at the expense of a few rich ones. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t go out and explore all that this beautiful world has to offer; by all means, that may be the fulfilling experience we’re all searching for. But we can all be kinder to ourselves and recognize that the greatest privilege afforded to us is agency over our own time — and consequently, our own existence. In our efforts to be superhuman, we seem to be losing sight of something that I would argue is infinitely more beautiful: the experience of being human.
By Street Roberts & Hannah Shariff
This article was originally published on April 13, 2022. Spring here at Dartmouth marks several milestones. The faint remnants of snow and ice slowly melt away, the Green grows more populated and darties become ever more present, even in sub-50 degree weather. But with the arrival of warmth, change also ripples through the campus. While seniors prepare to enter the real world, the next generation of student leaders takes the helm of many campus organizations — from Greek houses to student clubs and more. Although the last term of the academic year may seem like an odd time for leaders to assume new roles, leadership changeover in the spring allows retired seniors to serve as mentors, guiding juniors through the first leg of their time in charge. For Zahni Khin ’23, president of Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, and Grace Boyd ’23, president of Women in Media, the presence of the previous executives as they transitioned into their new roles has proved invaluable. “Well, it’s just like any new position — you’re faced with a lot of different responsibilities that you’re just not super used to, but I’m really grateful to have a lot of support,” Khin said. “[Former president] Will Frolich ’22 and the other execs have been just a huge, huge help in getting me grounded, giving me advice whenever I needed.” “I’ve been really inspired by past leaders,” Boyd said. “Now a lot of people are graduating, and I really want to learn from them and continue following in their footsteps.” Abigail Johnson ’23, the new president of the Dartmouth Outing Club, also emphasized how helpful that prior knowledge can be when adjusting to new responsibilities. “One thing we are really lucky to have is our DOC staff advisors, which help out with every [sub]club,” Johnson said. “They have a great institutional memory and they have seen years and years of what we’ve done as a club and help keep initiatives going and help keep events going that haven’t happened in a long time.” But while the wisdom of seniors and advisors can dramatically ease the adjustment period, at the end of the day, each new executive has to choose what kind of leader they want to be. “I think you have to create this
LILA HOVEY/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
balance between making tough decisions versus trying to make other people happy,” Khin said on his approach to leadership. “Regardless of what decision you make, you’re going to find people that don’t love it, so it’s really important to find that compromise, but also be cognizant of the fact that sometimes you’re going to have to make decisions that not everyone’s going to support.” Managing a large organization of your peers can be stressful, but for Khin and Johnson, the key to successful leadership lies in listening to those around you. “I think it can be a bit skewed when one person makes big decisions,” Khin said. “I luckily have a lot of people who have great input, who care about this house a bunch — and for that I’ve been very thankful. Whenever I have any questions or need to make a decision that’s going to affect everyone, I can rely on those people to help me out.” At the DOC, the large, umbrella-like club structure means that leadership also comes with significant logistical challenges. “I’m really lucky that there are so many people involved with the club and want to see it succeed,” Johnson said. “But I guess I’m nervous about making sure that I stay in touch with all those people and sub- clubs and making sure I hear all of their concerns.” Khin said that the relaxation of COVID-19 policies is a “huge relief,” as it allows club leaders to avoid the logistical concerns that come with minimizing social contact. “It’s a lot easier to manage events when we don’t have to worry about
people wearing masks or spreading COVID,” Khin said. “We want to ensure that everyone has a safe and fun experience when doing things at the house, so not having to deal with major COVID restrictions helps ease a lot of my stress around that.” However, the influence of COVID on club functioning has not been all bad. Boyd expressed that the pandemic introduced her, and the rest of the world, to more flexible technology use which have helped her expand Women in Media’s programming. “Our goal is to bring in outside speakers and guest speakers to help spread knowledge surrounding women and media,” said Boyd. “And the added bonus of COVID is now it’s easier to do that, because Zooming in on meetings is so common.” Fro m Jo h n s o n’s p e r s p e c t i ve, regardless of whether restrictions remain relaxed, her experience in leadership roles both pre and postpandemic helps her to face potential new regulations with an adaptable skill set. “I’m excited because I think that I’m in a spot where — COVID or no COVID — I’ve been involved with the organization for a long time. And I’m excited to be able to use that experience to mentor new students getting involved and also help push through new policies or measures that would be really helpful to make the club better,” Johnson said. With only a few weeks under their belts and a whole year of possibilities, it seems the newest leaders of Dartmouth’s student population are prepared to leave Dartmouth better than they found it.