The Dartmouth Winter Carnival Issue 2023

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LUCY HANDY/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Editors’ Note

Welcome to winter in Hanover! Three weeks ago, we were immersed in the midst of a historic warm spell, with just one run open at the Dartmouth Skiway and a cautiously optimistic student body. Now, we’re recovering from last Friday, when windchill temperatures around campus hit nearly negative 40 degrees.

As both temperatures and emotions fluctuate, it’s time we take a hard look at the constants that make Dartmouth winters unique. In this special issue, articles explore how to revive the spirit of Winter Carnival, the ways in which Hanover winters have changed over the years, how the social scene on campus shifts fundamentally to fit the frigid outdoors and more.

So in times of tumult, we encourage our readers to step outside their comfort zone and “break the ice.”

Be bold in 2023: Introduce yourself to that person you’ve been crushing on, actually do your readings for class, click on a random Listserv email and show up to the meeting. A lot of people write off winter as a lost cause, just a term to trudge through on your path to spring term. But by breaking the ice and looking beyond our traditional horizons, we can peer through the cracks and see a side of Dartmouth that we never even knew existed.

Stay warm out there, kids.

Jeremy, Lauren and Tess

Photo Essay: High Contrast

The

Table of Contents

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE PAGE 2
Photo Essay: High Contrast 2 Winter Carnival traditions evolve, focus on valuing winter 3 Spotlight on Shattuck Observatory 3 Q&A with earth sciences professor Erich Osterberg 4 Students lead eforts to organize Winter Carnival 4 A look at every Campus Cafe 5 Sudoku Puzzle 5 Dokken: Breaking the Bank 6 Arabian: Let’s Chat 6 Verbum Ultimum: Good Sham 7 de Wolf: Winter Carnival’s Seasonal Regression 7 Sweeney: Atlas Hugged 7 Peters: Polar Bear Swim 7 The Magic of Dartmouth’s Skiway 8 Head football coach shovels Memorial Field 8 DOC ofers outdoor winter opportunities 9 ‘’Bov Water’ celebrates personal histories of Black women 10 ‘Hanover Happenings’: A Podcast for the People 10 Risk Takers and Ice Breakers 11 Winter Carnival: ‘The Mardi Gras of the North’ 12 Refection: ‘So Good to See You!’ 12
ANGELINA SCARLOTTA/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Dartmouth
CAROLINE KRAMER & ANGELINA SCARLOTTA, Photo Editors LUCY HANDY Design Editor GRANT PINKSTON Templating Editor BRIAN WANG Finance & Sales Director AMY PARK, Publisher EMILY LU, Editor-in-Chief PRODUCTION EDITORS BUSINESS DIRECTORS LAUREN ADLER & ANDREW SASSER, News Executive Editors LAUREN AZRIN, TESS BOWLER & JEREMY GART, Special Issue Editors MIA RUSSO, Production Executive Editor 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 royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide and exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish and create derivative works from such content.
Staff

Winter Carnival traditions continue to evolve, but stay true to ‘valuing the winter experience’

The beginning of Winter Carnival

In 1910, Winter Carnival was created as the “first field day of the Outing Club” by Dartmouth Outing Club founder Fred Harris ’11. According to current DOC president Piper Stacey ’23, the first year of Winter Carnival consisted of snowshoeing, skiing and a ski jump — which grew into competitive ski jumping.

“Those skiing competitions evolved into the national ski racing leagues,” Stacey said. “So Dartmouth and the [Outing Club] helped to found intercollegiate skiing as we know it today, which is kind of cool.”

Men’s alpine skiing head coach JP Daigneault ’97 said that the first Winter Carnival ski race, which was held at Mount Moosilauke in 1922, consisted of two schools — Dartmouth and McGill University — but has expanded to include more than 20 schools on the East Coast.

The early years of Winter Carnival introduced memorable traditions, such as the ski jump on the 13th hole of the golf course. Introduced the same year as the ski competition, an 85-foot steel trestle was built by the Boston Bridge Company for $5,000, according to Rauner Special Collections Library. While the National Collegiate Athletic Association discontinued ski jumping as a sport in 1980, it remained a fixture every year at Dartmouth’s carnival until the steel trestle for the jump was dismantled in 1993.

Another tradition introduced in the 1920s was the snow sculpture, which is built annually in the middle of the Green. Other groups on campus, such as Greek houses and residential dorms, also built snow sculptures during Winter Carnival, including a giant toilet sculpture built in the 1980s by residents of Gile Hall.

The now-discontinued “Queen of Snows” beauty pageant was one of Winter Carnival’s earliest traditions, beginning in 1923. The pageant was a contest in which 45 women, who were visiting from other campuses

for the Carnival, were selected by 15

male Dartmouth students and then evaluated by students and “honorary judges”; the winner would be crowned at the end of the Outdoor Evening show on Friday. The show — which included ice skating by both members of the Dartmouth team as well as Olympic figure skaters — attracted thousands of spectators and was even televised in 1960. These events were so popular that in 1952, the coronation of the Queen of Snows and other Winter Carnival events created an eight-mile traffic jam to get into campus.

After the College became coeducational in 1972, the arrival of women students — in addition to changing societal norms and a decline in the pageant’s popularity — led to the end of the tradition in 1973.

Recent additions and changes

Several new additions have been incorporated into Winter Carnival, some of which have become wellbeloved. The Polar Bear Swim was started by Rachel Gilliar ’98 in 1994.

In an interview with The Dartmouth in 2001, Gilliar said that previous students had secretly done polar plunges in small-scale events; during her freshman year, Gilliar wanted to officially add the Polar Bear Swim into Winter Carnival. While the Polar Bear Swim was done clandestinely in its first year — without any official safety precautions or supervision from the Department of Safety and Security — Gilliar added that by 1998, students were already referring to the plunge as a tradition. That same year, the human dog sled race was also introduced to Winter Carnival.

The short-lived “keg jump,” in which students would ice skate and jump over kegs on Psi Upsilon fraternity’s front lawn, originated in 1982 by brothers of Psi U. The event was discontinued in 2001 by the College due to safety concerns and the lack of insurance.

One of the more recent additions to Winter Carnival is the Phi Delt Chili Cook-Off, which started in 2011 to raise money for the Fisher House Foundation for military families, according to Chili

Cook-Off chair Eli Smith ’25. Smith said that the competition — which College President Phil Hanlon has attended as a judge every year since he became president in 2013 — is the fraternity’s “big philanthropic event” and noted how it brings together the Dartmouth community and the town of Hanover.

“A lot of the other Winter Carnival traditions are exclusive towards students and people in the Dartmouth community, so including [local] restaurants and people in the Dartmouth community in the Chili Cook-Off is a great way of broadening bonds with Hanover,” Smith said. “So often we don’t interact with the [townspeople], and so I think bringing them on campus during Winter Carnival… [and] eating their chili is a mutually beneficial situation.”

Over the last 10 years, some traditions have been interrupted. In 2016, the snow sculpture was not built, which was attributed to the lack of

snow and low student participation. After a three-year hiatus, an official snow sculpture returned to the Green in 2018. Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the 2021 Winter Carnival, as programming was spread over the course of three weekends; traditions such as the Polar Bear Swim were also canceled due their inability to follow social distancing health guidelines. According to Daigneault, the ski race that year was also canceled due to similar reasons.

Previous years also saw high levels of indecent reports to Safety and Security; in 2016, there were 52 incident reports made during Winter Carnival. However, by 2020, Winter Carnival saw a small number of arrests and incidents, with 26 medical incidents that year. According to director of student involvement David Pack, the decrease of incidents could be a “combination of factors,” including the introduction of a hard alcohol ban

in 2015 and planning by the Winter Carnival Council.

“I think it would be hard to pin it down to any single source, but I definitely can say that all Winter Carnival Councils over the years have been working hard to plan bold and enticing schedules to get folks engaged in safe fun [during] Winter Carnival,” Pack said.

Although Winter Carnival’s origins lie within the DOC, Stacey said that the group does not have any official role in the planning of the festivities. However, she noted the overlap between the DOC and Winter Carnival organizers in their shared love of the outdoors.

“I love the emphasis that Winter Carnival puts on the outdoors and the beauty of the winter,” Stacey said. “I think that a special thing that keeps it tied to its roots in the DOC is the emphasis on getting people outside and making sure that there is an opportunity to recognize why we should be valuing the winter experience.”

Shattuck Observatory: Spotlight on the telescope’s presence on campus

shows up at a time,” they said.

Boudreaux added that public observation is open to the general public and that there is a “good split” of attendees — including undergraduate and graduate students, employees from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and the wider Upper Valley community.

Hickox, as the house professor for West House, has also previously invited West House community members to the Observatory, noting that he would remain at the Observatory after teaching lab classes to host members of the residential community.

“One of the goals of the house system is bringing what we do from the academic sphere into the residential community,” he said. “[Public observing] is very nice for folks who have taken astronomy classes, but sometimes it’s nice to just go with your residence or community from your house.”

Hickox added that he hopes that inviting the house community will help attract students who would not otherwise visit the Observatory.

“It’s really fun and always very enjoyable when someone who’s never looked through a telescope does it for the frst time,” he said.

Sinatra said that he attended one of Hickox’s observing sessions in the fall of 2021 through West House, where he was able to see both Saturn and the moon.

and astronomy Ph.D student Thomas

Shattuck Observatory was opened in the fall of 1854 and now stands as the “oldest of the scientifc buildings of the College,” according to Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. The iconic dome is named after George Cheyne Shattuck, a member of the Class of 1804, as one of the main donors of scientifc equipment to the College during the mid-19th century. Today, professors and graduate students from the department of physics and astronomy regularly invite students and the wider Hanover community to the Observatory, ofering visitors an opportunity to explore the wonders of the night sky.

Physics and astronomy professor

Ryan Hickox explained that the Observatory is home to an older telescope from the 1870s, but that the

telescope is now rarely used because “it is difficult to keep it in good operational condition.” Hickox noted that the Observatory is now operated and maintained by the physics and astronomy department, adding that the department usually teaches using the North Telescope — located in a shed next to Shattuck Observatory — due to its being “physically smaller but signifcantly more powerful.”

Hickox said that while teaching ASTR 3: “Exploring the Universe,” he brings students to the observatory for the lab component of the class.

“We do several kinds of observing labs, one of which is called deep sky observing,” Hickox said. “We point at some interesting objects like a cluster of stars or a distant galaxy, and the students make drawings of what they see and do an analysis of what they observe.”

Jack Sinatra ’25 said that he used the North Telescope while enrolled in ASTR 3 in the fall of 2021, which was a “very cool” experience.

“[ASTR 3] is not a course designed for astronomy majors, but rather for people who are a little interested in astronomy and just want to take a fun course,” Sinatra said. “We were looking for Jupiter in the sky, and we were able to fgure out where it was with the telescope.”

Sinatra also said that he appreciated the experience as he has an interest in astronomy, and taking the class showed him that “studying these things is possible even outside of being a major or minor.”

In addition to its teaching use, nine graduate students from the department of physics and astronomy also use the telescope to host public observing nights, according to physics

Boudreaux. Boudreaux noted that public observing takes place every week for two hours when undergraduate classes are in session — though cloudy weather may cause cancellations.

“If the weather is good, just before the public observing night begins, we roll back the roof of the shed, turn on the computers which control the telescopes and point the telescopes at pretty fun things in the night sky,” Boudreaux said. They added that Jupiter and Saturn are “big crowd pleasers,” and other galaxies and star clusters are also common targets.

Boudreaux added that around 15 people attend each session on average, though the number has ranged from one to about 70.

“For the normal person that comes to public observing, it’s normally a ten to 20 minute event… usually one group

Hickox explained that his favorite targets to observe through the North Telescope include Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s moons and the Andromeda galaxy. He added that in ideal weather, observers can “see some galaxies that are tens of millions of light-years away.”

Boudreaux said that the organizers of the public observing nights are planning to redesign their structure in the spring. They said that apart from regular public observing, other potential events being considered include short talks by astronomy undergraduate and graduate students about their research, indoor planetarium shows using computer software and arts and crafts activities for children. Bourdreaux added that this would also allow events to continue even during inclement weather.

“All undergrads are always encouraged to come attend,” Boudreaux said. “We love getting [undergraduates] at public observing nights, talking to [them] about it and getting the chance to show of the night sky.”

The
Staff FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE PAGE 3
Dartmouth
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DARTMOUTH COLLEGE LIBRARY The BROOKE KRIES/THE DARTMOUTH

‘It has not felt like an average winter’: Q&A with earth sciences professor Erich Osterberg

are the same storms that when they made their way across the country, were going up to the Great Lakes and bringing us rain. They’re also the same storms that were dumping a lot of snow in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

Why is this the case?

EO: We really just don’t know this intersection between day to day weather. And overall, climate change is a really hot area of research. It’s really difcult to make those connections because the weather is so chaotic. And that’s why I think we still don’t have great answers to that question. What is the relationship between these weather patterns we see in climate change?

We know that the warming that we’re seeing is caused by climate change, and that climate change is caused by human activities. As for these individual weather patterns, it’s much harder for us to say — is this climate change or is this just strange weather patterns? Have there been more frequent or unpredictable storms this year?

Erich Osterberg, associate professor of earth sciences, focuses his research on trying to understand how and why the climate has changed and identifying trends and sources of air pollution. Studying data from weather stations and climate models, his research aims to determine recent climate trends to diferentiate natural cycles from human-caused changes. The Dartmouth sat down with Osterberg to discuss this year’s winter and how it compares to what we’ve seen in the past.

Could you summarize the

available information on snowfall this year?

EO: We were right around average snowfall for December in Hanover. And we were well behind for January until the recent storms that we had. We may end up, snowfall wise, being pretty close to average. It’s hard to say for sure. But what’s really diferent about what was happening in December into the frst half of January was that we had these rainstorms after the snowfall, which were on a very consistent path.

That path took the rainstorms up through the Great Lakes, as opposed to up the coastline. When that happens it’s almost impossible for us to get snow, because if you’re on the east side of the storm, you’re on the warm side of

the storm — and even in the middle of winter, that’s going to bring you rain. What was interesting and surprising about it was just how consistently storm after storm took that same path. Usually, the storm paths vary from storm to storm more than they have this winter, but it’s just been a very persistent storm track that has unfortunately brought us a lot of rain.

Are these patterns that we’re seeing very regional to New England, or are they something we can also see across the U.S.?

EO: It is all related to what we’re seeing across the country. So the storm after storm after storm that was hitting California earlier this month — those

EO: I don’t think we could say that. I’ll bet if you were to run the numbers, my guess is that it has been a bit on the high side in terms of the total number of storms coming through. That’s partly related to the jet stream. The jet stream is the boundary between really cold air to the north, from the Arctic, and much warmer air to the south, from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. It’s this river of fast moving wind high in the atmosphere that helps to create and steer the storms. The more active the jet stream, the more storms you get. And so I think when we look back on this winter, we’re going to see that the jet stream was very active, meaning lots of storms. What we have not seen yet is those big blasts of really cold air coming down. We haven’t had those negative Fahrenheit, below-zero temperatures

that we normally see in January.

Do you think winters are generally getting warmer and snowfall is generally becoming more sparse?

EO: Those are the trends that we see. Snowfall and snow cover are quite diferent things. If the snow falls and then it stays cold for several weeks, then you’re going to have lots of snow on the ground for a long time. If you get the same amount of snow, and then it’’s either much warmer for a few days or even rains, that snow goes away. So the snowfall doesn’t really tell the whole story, and I think that’s kind of what we’re seeing this winter. Even though snowfall has been about average, it has not felt like an average winter at all because we keep losing our snow so quickly with the warm temperatures and the rain.

How do you think this impacts the Dartmouth community?

EO: I think the frst is that the rain certainly afects the snowpack, and that afects the winter tourism industry. There are also going to be ecological impacts, because there’s a lot of life that lives underneath the snowpack.

It’s hard to say what the connection is with climate change. We know that the winters are warming about twice as fast as the other three seasons here in New Hampshire. It’s warmed about four degrees over the last 60 or 70 years.

When you come to Dartmouth you expect cold snowy winters, and a lot of our local culture and heritage goes along with that — primarily through winter sports, with skiing and ice skating. And so those activities have been pretty curtailed — it’s been a tough time to be a cross country skier in Hanover.

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

Students lead efforts to organize Winter Carnival activities

As one of Dartmouth’s oldest traditions, Winter Carnival is less focused on institutional efforts than one might expect. Rather, it is dependent on the engagement and enthusiasm of the students on campus, according to Winter Carnival Council co-chair Lucas Gatterman ’23.

“Without Winter Carnival, I don’t think we would have something that would really bring the community together… during winter term,” Gatterman said. “We [students] have a direct influence on how we shape Winter Carnival every year.”

However, one of the biggest logistical hurdles to creating a successful Winter Carnival in recent years has been getting student volunteers, according to Collis Center director of student involvement David Pack.

“Last year’s Polar Bear Swim almost didn’t happen, primarily because the number of people participating in Winter Carnival Council was so small,” Pack said. “That was the first year that we actually had to go outside of Winter Carnival Council to recruit volunteers to help staff the swim.”

In years surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Winter Carnival saw low initial engagement and in 2022, and while students turned out in record numbers for the Polar Bear Swim, some found their great expectations overall dashed.

The famed Dartmouth Polar Bear Swim — in which students swim across the cold waters of a section cut out of the frozen Occom Pond — requires a minimum 15 volunteers at all times during the event, said Gatterman. The Council also needs to work with a contractor and the Hanover Fire Department to ensure the event is safe, according to Pack.

For the past few years, the snow sculpture event has also been difficult to organize due to a lack of student engagement, according to Pack.

“Coming back from COVID, there was a loss of… institutional memory about how things work and how things function,” Pack said. “Most of these traditions have always [been] — and continue to be — executed by student leaders.”

Gatterman also cited the pandemicrelated transitions, adding that students became reliant on the College arranging events without any effort from student input.

“[During the pandemic,] I simply got comfortable with the College being willing to put things on,” Gatterman said. “The College has pulled back

resources, but the students aren’t coming back because we felt that the College was just going to continue to put resources into [Winter Carnival].”

Snow sculpture chair Cady Rancourt ’24 agreed, saying that the process of creating last year’s snow sculpture had to be adapted due to a lack of student volunteering, along with unusually warm temperatures.

“We originally had some designs that students were really excited about, but we could just not get enough people out on the Green to help fill the frame with snow, and so it ended up being a lot smaller than our original design,” Rancourt said.

Making this year’s eight-foot-tall creation is estimated to be a weekand-a-half-long process. Last year, Rancourt said that she worked with only seven students, but she is hopeful that energy from members of the Class of 2026 will bolster her team this term.

In addition to Rancourt’s position, student involvement in Winter Carnival takes a few other forms. There is a Winter Carnival Council, which is open to all students to apply for, and a handful of chairs who lead the group.

Pack also said organizers have added an “event-based volunteer model” to ensure events like the Polar Bear Swim can run. This system allows students to help out over short periods and avoid longer commitments.

The annual poster is another critical component of the Carnival because it commemorates each year for students and creates a sense of nostalgia for alumni, according to owner of Records, Posters and Memorabilia New Hampshire owner Bryan Smith.

“[The poster] brings back the memories,” Smith said. “[Winter Carnival is] the one thing you look forward to [while] in January when it’s usually the coldest… It’s the Dartmouth students who really celebrate it.”

In the 1960s, the annual Carnival began to include a theme that often reflected the cultural moment, according to Smith. This was also around the time that students began to design the posters, which before then were created for the College by Pratt School of Design, he added.

Merchandise sales featuring the design — including t-shirts, posters and stickers — constitute a “big part” of the $20,000 to $25,000 budget for Winter Carnival, according to Pack. The money is provided by the Programming Board, part of the Collis Center.

To bolster sales, the Council tries to pick a theme that is accessible to all

students and also “appeals to alums,” according to Winter Carnival Council co-chair Piper Gilbert ’25. Similarly, the Council hopes to organizes events that appeal to a broad swathe of students; this year, events include making origami parrots at the Hood Museum of Art and a Sunday sea shanty sing-along. “You don’t have to love winter

in order to love Winter Carnival,” Pack said. “Obviously many of the traditional events can be outdoors and cold, but every year the Council also works to come up with options for folks who may not want to spend a ton of time outside in winter.”

Gilbert said that Winter Carnival attracted her to Dartmouth as a high schooler, and added that she was struck

by the dedication of the students to tradition and their beloved institution. “I loved this idea that it was a celebration of winter, not just a survival of it. We weren’t hibernating ourselves and tucking ourselves away,” Gilbert said. “I want to not only give that to the student population here, but also people who might be prospective students.”

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Diving into Dartmouth Dining: A look at every campus cafe

Dartmouth Dining Services operates 13 locations across campus, including a dining hall, a market, three snack bars and seven cafes. Its cafes — composing the majority of on-campus eateries — extend from the Hopkins Center for the Arts all the way down College Street to Anonymous Hall.

Cafes dot undergraduate and graduate program locations alike. A testament to their prominence, two cafes are situated at opposite ends of Baker-Berry Library, just a minute walk apart. The Dartmouth ventured to every on-campus cafe to ask Dartmouth Dining workers — and the students who frequent their businesses — what sets each location apart.

Courtyard Cafe

Situated inside the Hopkins Center, Courtyard Cafe offers an exclusive selection of made-to-order menu items, according to location manager Rachel Sperry. Colloquially known as “The Hop,” Sperry said that the location offers menu items from three distinct stations: the grill — which provides student favorites like breakfast burritos and quesadillas — the salad bar and pre-prepared Grab-N-Go options.

Sperry added that Courtyard Cafe provides an interpersonal dynamic between students and employees, where those manning the grill are sometimes able to recognize students by name even before an order is placed.

“We get to know the students,” she said. “Students that are here every day, we get to know them, more than so if they were eating at [’53 Commons].”

Annmarie Allos ’23, who ordered a “Bob Marley” — a sandwich that includes steak, hash browns, egg and cheese — said she usually eats at the Courtyard Cafe twice a week and praised the level of customization at the salad bar.

“There’s just a lot more variety with the options that they have here” as compared to other campus eateries, she said.

Collis Cafe In Collis Cafe, located inside the eponymous Collis Center for Student Involvement, the constant flow of student activity contributes to the dining location’s atmosphere, according to supervisor Susan DiPadova.

“It makes it pretty social, and I think that makes [Collis] a little different,” DiPadova said. “It’s just small and everybody talks to everybody here.”

DiPadova said that made-to-order and pre-made breakfast sandwiches, homemade soups and the cafe’s pasta bar are all meals that keep students coming back to Collis. Additionally, the cafe has paired with local vendor Boloco for catered meals on Monday and Wednesday evenings, DiPadova added.

Though Alexandra Cadet ’26 said she prefers ’53 Commons for practicality and the Hop for its menu selection, she said certain menu items at Collis ensure she returns.

“I absolutely love the smoothies,” Cadet said. “They’re a good way to start my day occasionally.”

Cafe@Baker

Past the entrance of Baker lobby, in a rightside alcove, is Cafe@Baker — one of Baker-Berry Library’s two cafe locations. Supervisor and barista

Melissa Dauphinais said that Cafe@ Baker has the feel of a true-natured study spot more than other dining options, with its location tucked away in the library along with its baked goods and hand pies.

“You come to Baker [because] you want to study… you just kind of want a chill place to relax and just get away from everything,” Dauphinais said.

A Dartmouth Dining employee since his freshman year, Bernardo De Nardi ’23 said that compared to his employment at other on-campus dining locations, Cafe@Baker is a more relaxed environment.

“Because you have more students coming and going [at other locations]... it feels a little bit more rushed because you have to serve everybody as fast as [you] can, because people have classes — they’re always in a rush,” De Nardi said. “And here, it’s a little bit more laid back because we have less people coming.”

Novack Cafe

At the opposite end of Baker-Berry, adjacent to Carson Hall, is Novack Cafe, the second of the library’s

two in-house cafes. According to student worker Elvio Polanco Jr. ’24, the location receives constant student traffic and can be “a little crazy.” Starbucks refresher drinks, like strawberry acai lemonades, are a popular order, according to Polcano Jr.

“It’s just like a workplace, somewhere where [students] can always just sit down, do their work, and if they need to get coffee in a very quick second, they can just pull up real quick,” he said.

Working at a table in Novack, Leonhardt Fuchs ’24 said he likes that the cafe is “pretty quick” and an easy location to grab a snack — especially since he studies in the area.

“It’s right in the library and it’s pretty big — and has its own spacious seating and all of that,” Fuchs said. The Fern Coffee and Tea Bar

At the end of Tuck Drive, inside the Irving Institute for Energy and Society, sits The Fern — one of two cafes that opened last year on the West End of campus. Alina Menard, a barista who has been working at The Fern since its arrival last March, said the location tries to offer exclusive meal products, including Italian sodas, bubble tea and acai bowls.

In addition, the location strives to promote sustainability, with a focus on all-natural products and reduced packaging.

Currently closing at 3:30 p.m., Menard said she hopes that The Fern is able to stay open later in the future to offer students more readily accessible, made-to-order meals into the evening.

Though she has an espresso machine in her dorm room, Miaoxuan Huang ’26 said stopping by The Fern for coffee is convenient, especially when compared to the prospect of walking back to her dorm room during the day to brew a cup for herself.

“I would say usually the line in The Fern is not [as] long as Novack, and I do appreciate that they have the option of light roast coffee,” Huang said.

Back of the Napkin

At the lowest level of the Engineering and Computer Science Center is Back of the Napkin, the newest Dartmouth Dining location and the second to open on the West End of campus.

Supervisor Magdalini Nanopoulos said the importance of Back of the Napkin lies in its convenience, allowing students who study in the West End buildings food and drink options without going across campus.

“Besides the location and the convenience, the other part is that… it’s very fast,” Nanopolous said. “I mean, we have hot food, burgers, fried food and we have cold sandwiches [and] sushi. So [students] can come in and out within a minute.”

According to Nanopoulos, students

and faculty take advantage of the location’s late operating hours, as the cafe stays open until 9 p.m. most nights.

Sara Lydon ’23 said that as a student who works in the Engineering and Computer Science Center often, Back of the Napkin is a convenient dining location. “Its hours are better than [The Fern],” Lydon said. “That’s nice.”

Ramekin

Named after the ramekin dishes in which it serves food to customers, Ramekin is located at the base level of Anonymous Hall on the North End of campus. Supervisor Alexis Lensing said that the cafe is a particular favorite of graduate students at the nearby Geisel School of Medicine.

“It’s definitely hard during the colder times of the year — we definitely get less traffic,” Lensing said. “But, I think we have our people that love to come here and just like to eat here and enjoy the mac and cheese,” she added, referencing what Lensing described as the cafe’s signature meal.

Tanaka Chikati ’25 has been working at Ramekin since her freshman fall and said that the cafe offers what she considers to be “the best mac and cheese on the campus.”

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE PAGE 5
BOWEN CHEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF TYLER CHEN ’24: SUDOKU

Breaking The Bank

Discussing salary with co-workers is a taboo worth breaking.

The old adage goes, there are three things we shouldn’t talk about: politics, religion and money. It seems to have been ingrained in employers and employees alike that salary isn’t something that should be discussed. This year alone, I applied to over 50 jobs – and the vast majority did not disclose compensation in the job posting. Additionally, even as I was actively being hired for my current post-grad position, I wasn’t informed about compensation until I received my ofer letter. Although salary isn’t the only factor to consider before taking a job, one would be mistaken to assume that people work merely because they want to. For many, we go to work because we have bills to pay and need the paycheck to survive, and perhaps, as an additional beneft, we also fnd some personal fulfllment in our work.

However, it isn’t just employers and recruiters that buy into the taboo surrounding salary disclosure. Any time we shy away from discussing our salary with our co-workers, family or friends, we engage in the same behavior, which can only harm us in the long run. Salary transparency is an important means of ensuring that you are being fairly compensated for your work and can help build trust in the workplace. By refusing to discuss salary — whether in the workplace, with your friends or with your family — we fail to reap these benefts and help perpetuate a system of silence that has allowed for women, people of color and other minority groups to be unknowingly paid less than their male, white counterparts.

Pay transparency is an issue that is increasingly on the forefront of the minds of new hires, particularly millenials and Gen Z. In a 2021 Bankrate survey, approximately 19% of baby boomers and 31% of Generation X surveyed stated that they had asked a co-worker about their salary, compared to 40% of millenials and 42% of Generation Z. Additionally, data collected by Payscale, an American-based compensation software company, shows that when companies are not transparent about salaries, younger employees are at a heightened risk of leaving a job after less than six months.

Although some may argue that pay disparities along the lines of gender and race have improved over time, pay discrimination is still a very real phenomenon. In 2019, CNBC reported that “more than half of women in the U.S. tech sector are being paid less than their male counterparts”, and in 16% of these cases, women were being paid more than $20,000 less than men. Furthermore, tech giants such as LinkedIn and Google have been directly implicated in settlements over pay discrimination, both opting to settle out of court at the cost of millions of dollars. The outlook is even worse for women of color, in which Black

and Hispanic women make on average $4 and $5 less than white women when comparing median hourly earnings. Even for male employees of color, pay discrimination is still common, with healthcare giant Kaiser paying $11.5 million to settle out of court following allegations of pay discrimination against Black male and female employees.

Pay transparency is an important tool that employees can use to ensure that they are being paid what they deserve and ensure that when they aren’t, they can take the steps necessary to call out that discrimination for what it is: unfair and, in some cases, illegal.

These trends are partially due to the lack of trust that the “black box” of wage transparency creates in the minds of employees, especially those who are most at risk of facing wage discrimination — including racial minorities and women. After all, if you have no idea what the people you are working with are getting paid, it becomes near impossible to determine if you are being compensated fairly. In short, you cannot recognize a problem if you never have access to the information needed to know that there is one.

Some have expressed concern that pay transparency will cause employees to make it harder to retain employees, as people will leave for a diferent job as soon as they fnd one that pays more. However, if an employee is leaving because someplace else is willing to pay them more money for the same role, it begs the question if they were being adequately compensated at their current position. Another concern is that pay transparency may lead to a compression in employee compensation as managers fear backlash from afording certain employees benefts, raises and higher starting pay. Although studies have shown that pay compression does occur in some cases where pay transparency is implemented, data also shows that the factors contributing to pay compression, such as fear of employee backlash, can be counteracted by being explicit in how compensation is determined.

As younger workers enter the workforce and are increasingly unwilling to accept the status quo in terms of workplace norms, we should expect the standards surrounding pay and working conditions to shift accordingly. Even as topics that have been historically taboo, such as pay, are becoming acceptable conversation topics, it is vital that employers recognize that these shifts are increasingly necessary to build trust among employees. What’s more, I urge those entering the workforce to continue demanding for more pay transparency from employers. Being willing to demand that you are paid what you deserve is not being entitled — it is recognizing your worth even if others won’t.

The College should set clear guidelines for the efcient and ethical use of ChatGPT and similar tools in its classrooms.

Last November, OpenAI launched its finetuned natural language processing tool, ChatGPT. Originally intended to imitate human conversations, the tool has found a number of creative uses: ChatGPT can compose your emails, draft your essays and even code in multiple languages. It may be a bit trite these days to claim that artifcial intelligence is changing the world, but for academia and its current consensus on plagiarism, it is inevitable that change is coming. And the feld is only in its infancy: In the last half-decade, companies have achieved major progress in nearly every aspect of artifcial intelligence, with no signs of slowing down. Given the inevitability of this march forward, faculty at the College should consider incorporating ethical uses of artifcial intelligence into their course syllabi — and even actively encouraging students to use it.

ChatGPT and other natural language processing tools are here to stay, regardless of how naysayers may feel about it. Anticipating its more nefarious uses, Princeton University senior and computer science major Edward Tian developed a tool named GPTZero to “quickly and efciently detect” whether an essay is written by ChatGPT or a human. And, to his credit, GPTZero got it right about 98% of the time. However, desperate students are a highly creative bunch. Popular plagiarism-catching websites, such as TurnItIn and SafeAssign, cannot detect the work of QuillBot, a state-of-the-art paraphrasing tool. Thus, people almost immediately began copypasting their responses from ChatGPT into QuillBot, reducing the success rate of GPTZero to, well, zero. The combination of ChatGPT and QuillBot presents a near-insurmountable challenge for administrators hoping to catch would-be cheaters.

During my tenure as editor of this opinion section, my philosophy with ChatGPT has been:

“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” Throughout the term, I have regularly used ChatGPT to anticipate potential counterpoints to arguments posed by our writers — and it has consistently made their articles stronger. Of course, ChatGPT is not itself an original thinker; rather, it uses its bank of parameters (about 175 billion of them) to converse with its users based on pre-existing inputs. Thus, while it cannot articulate arguments of its own, ChatGPT is an excellent tool for surveying ideas previously articulated by real people.

I will not hesitate to admit that the program even played a small role in anticipating counterpoints to this very submission — some of which I would not have addressed otherwise. In my capacity as editor, I have also used the tool to monitor for logical fallacies, structure long and multi-dimensional arguments and even spark inspiration for ideas I had not previously thought to explore. While far from perfect, ChatGPT is an undeniably powerful tool in the arsenal of any writer or editor. To deny its use within the classroom would be depriving students of skills that have become increasingly necessary in the professional world.

The College must clarify its position on natural language processing tools and educate its students and faculty on their efective and ethical use. It is unclear today whether the Committee on Standards would consider, say, using a ChatGPT-generated outline but written by a student to be an instance of academic dishonesty. The technology is too new. While certain schools have either embraced or banned the program, there is not yet any “case law” for it at the College. An all-faculty meeting to build consensus around artifcial intelligence in the classroom may be necessary to rectify this. When it comes to its smaller nuances, professors may consider revisiting their course syllabi to discuss how exactly they prefer ChatGPT to be used. This would not only give students some much-needed clarifcation

regarding academic dishonesty but also ofer them professional guidance on best practices.

To begin, as with any source, students must acknowledge their use of ChatGPT — especially if it generated any actual text for them. This should come as a surprise to no one. Writers typically acknowledge the sources they consulted in the references or bibliography of their papers, and this is essentially the same thing. In this case, writers may also consider including a mention of ChatGPT in their acknowledgements, a section typically reserved for those who personally or professionally supported the writer. Finally, a third option would be to list the chatbot as an author itself; this should be reserved, however, only for those who had it write a signifcant portion of the paper and with explicit permission from the professor.

In addition to its ethical ambiguities, there is another danger for students using ChatGPT: The content it generates is often awkward and simplistic and would doubtlessly fail some of the more rigorous standards of academia. Of course, the fact that a computer can even produce such content is impressive; however, in its current state, ChatGPT still seems to be leagues behind professors and students at the College. To test my intuition, I asked fve of my (human) friends, then ChatGPT, to write a short story about someone climbing Mount Everest. I then showed the product to fve other friends — and, sure enough, all of them were able to distinguish the ChatGPT-generated response from the rest on the basis of its poor writing. Thus, beyond the threat of academic dishonesty, students have other reasons not to allow ChatGPT to write for them without proper supervision. For their part, professors may remind students that the quality of their writing is ultimately their own responsibility.

Further, ChatGPT tends to produce arguments that sound plausible but are actually factually inaccurate or utter nonsense. It confdently tells users entirely false “facts,” like “former Apple CEO John Sculley was responsible for the iPod” — a product released almost a decade after he left the company. ChatGPT may cause those who do not detect this error to accept and eventually spread inaccurate information to others. A common reason for such inaccuracies is that ChatGPT is not currently connected to the internet. Therefore, asking it to do any sort of research or synthesis on current events is already a non-starter. However, even if you did this research yourself and fed it into ChatGPT, you still would not fnd it articulating any intelligent conclusions. After all, the program relies on those who have previously written on a topic; if the topic is too recent, it cannot play “the imitation game,” as Alan Turing — the namesake of the famous “Turing Test” to assess the intelligence of a computer — referred to it. Just as students would be skeptical of pulling factual information from certain websites, such as Wikipedia or Quora, they should think twice before over-relying on ChatGPT.

In 2022, the feld of artifcial intelligence expanded beyond what many, including myself, thought was even possible. ChatGPT and similar programs ofer writers and editors the unprecedented ability to critique their own arguments, detect internal logical inconsistencies and structure their thoughts — all within seconds of hitting the keyboard. Used correctly, this is a valuable tool that, if trends hold, will only get better over time. However, this same tool could also unleash a furry of ethical and professional crises into academia, from plagiarism to the propagation of inaccurate information. Thus, the College should devise and train its faculty on a set of guidelines designed to get the most out of ChatGPT, while avoiding its pitfalls.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE
SENIOR STAFF COLUMNIST NATALIE DOKKEN 23 SENIOR STAFF COLUMNIST KAMI ARABIAN ‘ 24
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MARLEIGH PETERS ’24: POLAR BEAR SWIM

Verbum Ultimum: Good Sham

Dartmouth must reconsider the repercussions associated with Greek houses using the Good Sam policy.

It’s a typical Friday night at any given fraternity, and the house is buzzing. The hallways are chock-full of students thrilled to have the week in their rearview mirror — and more than ready to blow of some steam. Drinks are fowing, music is bumping and the vibes are good. Not so much, though, for the freshman repeatedly throwing up in the frst foor bathroom. Concerned, a brother asks their friends if they’re alright. “Yeah,” they say, “they’ve had a little too much to drink, but we’ll get them home fne.” 15 minutes later, the same freshman falls face down on the frat’s front lawn, and it’s obvious that they’re not going anywhere. “Hey, it’s okay,” their friends reassure themselves, “good thing Dartmouth has a policy created for this exact case!” But as they move to call the College’s designated Good Sam number, the same brother comes sprinting over once again — only this time, he isn’t so nice.

The concept behind Dartmouth’s Good Samaritan policy is certainly logical. In an attempt to create a safer atmosphere for students on alcohol-saturated nights out, Dartmouth ofers students the opportunity to call for help should they fnd themselves or a friend unsafely impaired. If a Good Sam is called, Safety and Security ofcers will arrive on scene and escort the student back to their dorm or, if needed, a medical facility. Importantly, they also won’t get the student in trouble for their behavior. According to the Student Afairs website, “Students and/or organizations that seek assistance… will not be subject to College disciplinary action with respect to violation of the Alcohol Policy and/or the use of other drugs.” This is, of course, fantastic. Students are given a way to ensure the safety of their friends (and themselves) without the fear of College repercussions — making the campus a safer and less stressful place to both work and play. Unfortunately, while this policy is great in theory, there’s one serious problem preventing Good Sam from being used to its full potential: afliated members of Greek houses don’t want their guests to use it.

Here’s the issue: let’s say a Safety and Security ofcer picks up a random student from a random Greek house. Upon arrival, it’s probable that the student is very intoxicated — hence the call to Good Sam. In all likelihood, the ofcer will inquire about the events leading up to the distressed student’s current situation. Thanks to their sky-high BAC, they probably won’t hesitate to divulge all information regarding where

they were drinking, what they were drinking and how many rules were probably violated in doing so. When a drunk student is “Good Sammed” and accidentally ends up blabbing about the cup of batch they drank at a fraternity, Safety and Security may launch an investigation — thereby putting that Greek house at risk of severe consequences. In many cases, these calls are blamed on the Greek house even if the distressed stranger showed up already intoxicated. The house may not have provided a single drop of Keystone to the student, and the consequences are still the same — or at least, that is what is broadly assumed. Whether factual or not, the efects of this assumption are the same. It’s no wonder why many Greek houses will do whatever they can to stop Good Sams from being called on anyone on their premises.

Granted, this may be an issue of transparency. But if true, this is a massive blind spot. For members of Greek houses, there exists a frustrating double bind — either look out for the safety of their peers and risk the consequences, or play it safe, and in doing so, actively neglect peers’ well-being. This fundamentally undermines the safety that the Good Sam policy is supposed to ofer. Though you may think the choice should be obvious — protect your fellow student over your house — when this peer is a complete stranger, in reality, the choice is not so simple. Instead of being a way to ofer assistance without fear of backlash, the Good Sam policy now sports the same backlash that it was designed to omit. This inevitably means fewer Good Sam calls — and, as a result, a less safe campus.

Of course, we’re not asking the College to totally disregard any connection to Greek life that the subjects of Good Sam calls might have. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask questions about who’s been serving alcohol and in what manner. However, this policy disregards the fact that in many cases, the person does not get Good Sammed in the location they were drinking — since the body does not even metabolize alcohol for roughly an hour after it is consumed. As it stands, the same places that are sometimes distributing alcohol in the least responsible ways can get away with it scot-free. Why?

Because that person chugging drinks at Greek house A might not feel the efects for 30 minutes, when they’ve already moved down Webster Avenue to the next stop of the night. Even worse, some chapters may force the distressed student to leave their property before they call a Good Sam — counting on another Greek house to take the fall for the student’s overconsumption.

Without a logical method of notifying and working with the Greek house that person originated from, this problem will still exist.

We propose that after every Good Sam call, Safety and Security should immediately provide the person the assistance they need, and if appropriate, locate where they spent the majority of their night and/ or ingested the majority of their alcohol. This may be the Greek house that they were Good Sammed at, or it may be their dorm, a diferent house or countless other locations on or of campus. If this intel is available, Safety and Security would notify the location where the student spent the majority of their night, which would be expected to provide an honest account of that night’s activities. However, providing this information would be contingent on the Greek house’s immunity — at least in the short term.

If Safety and Security has reason to suspect activity clearly beyond the realm of a typical night out, such as hazing or other overtly dangerous drinking activities, it is then welcome to inquire further and potentially bring disciplinary action towards the Greek house.

However, without these hazards, the College must acknowledge that on any given night, there is a

STAFF COLUMNIST THOMAS DE WOLFF ‘ 24

Winter Carnival’s Seasonal Regression

Winter Carnival lacks spirited traditons comparable to its fall and spring counterparts.

In a survey of the graduating Class of 2022, Winter Carnival placed last in students’ rankings of important Dartmouth experiences. This should not come as a surprise to any current students or recent alumni, as Winter Carnival’s traditions have been steadily whittled away with nothing to replace them in kind. At least the administration has deemed a two-minute sled race ft to stay, but such sterilized diversions will only ever appear in admissions brochures — never in one’s fondest memories of the College.

Maybe if Winter Carnival looked more like what National Geographic once called the “Mardi Gras of the North,” there would not be such a sorry state of afairs. Apocryphal stories of the weekend’s former glory abound, detailing visits of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Johnny Cash to Hanover during Winter Carnivals of days gone by. It seems unlikely that Winter Carnival, in its current lackluster form, would ever attract celebrities of such caliber again. But this should be our goal — to restore Dartmouth’s signature weekend to its former glory. To accomplish this, students must institute new traditions that are in keeping with the original spirit of the weekend.

At its core, Winter Carnival represents a vitalistic celebration of our survival in remote, hostile conditions. Despite being knee-deep in snow and freezing cold, we have survived here for over 250 years. This certainly does seem like a cause for celebration. And how do we celebrate? We pile heaps of snow – the symbol of this most unforgiving time of year — into a giant monument in the center of campus. Then we willingly expose ourselves to freezing cold water by jumping into Occom Pond via the Polar Bear Swim. Falling through the surface of a frozen pond would seem absurd most of the time, yet it is one of the weekend’s most in-demand activities. Never let it be said that Dartmouth students allow common sense to prevent them from having a good time! We do not run from the elements here — we brave them in a hardy assertion of our enduring presence in the face of nature’s challenge.

In recent years, Winter Carnival has lost its way. The constant struggle to get students to participate in building the snow statue is emblematic of this. As the weekend’s traditions are systematically culled or fall out of fashion, it is no wonder that students feel like Winter Carnival is much ado about nothing. Look at what was formerly another popular student tradition, the Psi Upsilon keg jump. Snow, skating and kegs — three enduring symbols of Dartmouth winters, all combined in one daredevilish expression of collegiate derring-do. Running for 19 years — older than the average Dartmouth freshman at matriculation — it was ultimately banned in 2000. When the Coed Fraternity and Sorority Judiciary Committee put a stop to the tradition, it was not due to any safety concerns stemming from the activity itself, but rather as a result of underage drinking and crowd control concerns. After all, God forbid college students might drink during a party weekend. Now, I’m not condoning dangerous or reckless activities, but such heavy-handed decisions to wholly eliminate the traditions that set the weekend apart are a key reason why our graduating classes now think so little of Winter Carnival.

Dartmouth’s traditions are one of its main appeals. It’s a large part of why I and so many other students chose to come here — and I’ll be the frst to tell you that I don’t like messing with our traditions when there’s

percentage of students who set out with the intention of getting very drunk — and it does not do anyone any good to punish a Greek house for making sure this person gets the help they need. These Safety and Security ofcers weren’t born yesterday, and Phil Hanlon certainly wasn’t either. No matter what sort of illicit activities Greek houses host, Dartmouth students will continue to need this kind of help — barring a systematic overhaul of the deep-rooted drinking culture we have at the College.

It’s time we focus on preventing real harm instead of gingerly avoiding administrative snares. If the College were to recognize that events like tails occur and hard alcohol exists, they can accomplish the frst step in creating a better, more sustainable system that results in a safer student body — especially for the underclassmen who do not yet know their own limits when it comes to alcohol and drug consumption. The Good Sam policy is a fantastic idea in concept, but just like all other policies, it’s not above revision. Now is the time to revise it.

The editorial board consists of opinion staf columnists, the opinion editors, the executive editors and the editor-in-chief.

no good reason to do so. But in this case, when Winter Carnival is lurching along as a shadow of its former glory, it’s time that students step in and right the ship. Not including the new impromptu tradition where we pray for snow, a serious poverty of imagination has struck the student body. We desperately need new traditions to supplement the few we have left.

Ideally, these new traditions will evoke the core qualities of Winter Carnival. The first “Winter Sports Day” appeared in 1910. Intended to promote competitive engagement with winter sporting staples such as skiing, it quickly evolved to contain a social program as well. While its bygone beauty pageant may have been the big draw for the crowds focking to Hanover, its wintry activities were an ever-popular mainstay as well. To paraphrase an alumnus writing about the weekend sixty years ago, anyone can put on a Homecoming or a big spring weekend, but only Dartmouth can do Winter Carnival.

Weather permitting, a cross-country ski race open to students — think the Fifty on skis — would be perfectly in keeping with the Winter Carnival ethos of embracing the elements and proving one’s mettle. See the Polar Plunge for another prime example of this philosophy. Another tradition fallen by the wayside involved fraternities competing with one another to carve the most impressive ice sculpture on their lawns. A cash price more substantial than the current $200 ofered for the contest’s winner may revive the competitive spirits of today’s more mercenary students and induce a new round of rivalries between Greek houses.

On the social side, Winter Carnival features some iconic events — see Alpha Chi’s Beach Party and Phi Delt’s Chili Cook-Of — but falls short of Green Key weekend in that few other houses host any unique themed parties. These kinds of parties set the weekend apart from the rest of the term’s social programming, and some, such as the Chili Cook-Of, can be held as sober events too. Finally, in the spirit of the season, even Dartmouth Dining is getting in on the action. The New England Harvest Dinner was a hit in the fall, and a festive, winter-themed sequel for Winter Carnival will help students feel as though there is something appreciably diferent about the weekend. Hopefully, this meal will be well-received, and serve as a memorable and enjoyable addition to the weekend’s programming. Large or small in scale, a concerted efort from the Dartmouth community to defne this weekend as something more than another excuse to drink (that is, more than students already do) will go a long way towards changing things for the better.

Winter Carnival may provide fewer opportunities than Homecoming for the administration to press the fesh, and it’s a far cry from the sound and fury of Green Key — but it has a merit all its own just waiting to be rediscovered. In fact, Winter Carnival is defned by its legacy of student involvement. It’s students who join the Winter Carnival Council to choose the direction of each year’s festivities. We choose the theme, we design the iconic poster, we build the snow sculpture and we swarm Occom Pond for a chance to leap into its icy waters. Winter Carnival fnds its ultimate expression in the frenzied outpouring of creative energy from Dartmouth students. It’s time we put that energy to good use, and begin the work of elevating Winter Carnival to its once-vaunted position in campus life.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE PAGE 7 THE DARTMOUTH EDITORIAL BOARD
SOPHIE BAILEY /THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF SAMANTHA BRANT /THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

SPORTS

Love at Frost Sight: The Magic of Dartmouth’s Skiway

pass $50 to $60 depending on the day.

“It’s expensive because it’s expensive to make snow, and it’s expensive to maintain and purchase the equipment that it takes to do the sport,” Adamcyzk said. “It’s not just because it’s elitist — it maybe is elitist — but it’s expensive because it costs a lot to run a skiway.”

Unfortunately, students are not always aware of the Skiway or how relatively afordable the venue is. Kirusha Lanski ’23 said that he only discovered it during his sophomore year and then quickly took advantage of its resources.

“Where has this been all my life?” Lanski said he thought as he few down the slopes.

Lanski emphasized the accessibility of the Skiway that is not prevalent in many ski areas.

“The fact that there is a place to ski that is so afordable to students and so close with easy access to transportation is one of my favorite aspects of this college,” Lanksi said.

Along with shuttles run by the College and equipment available for rent, the Skiway is a place where anyone can create memories. Adamcyzk expressed his excitement to see people who have never been skiing come out to the Skiway — noting that groups from DOC-subclub People of Color Outdoors have been coming to the mountain.

As snow gently settles atop Dartmouth Hall, students scurry across the Green, traipsing in the powder that signifes true winter in Hanover. Snow means many things for our community, including breaking out boots and a midnight snowball fght — and fresh powder at the Dartmouth Skiway. For some students, the Skiway is a core element of the Dartmouth experience.

Since 1956, the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme has been an undeniable presence in the Upper Valley. The Skiway creates a welcoming environment for all, from local residents and guests to students from across the globe who wish to explore New England skiing.

According to Skiway general manager Mark Adamczyk, the Dartmouth Skiway sold more than 1,400 student season passes last season — making it one of Dartmouth’s most popular winter destinations. Adamczyk emphasized how the Skiway’s connection to the College makes this place so special.

“The connection to Dartmouth is what differentiates it from, for

lack of a better term, corporate ski areas or more proft-minded places, because Dartmouth allows a mission of community, access and inclusion,” Adamczyk said. “Because of the connection to the College, we have this whole separate mission of making sure there’s a venue in the winter for people to learn and enjoy the sport of downhill skiing.”

On weekends you can fnd local children strapping up for a day of lessons as well as college students looking to get a few runs in. Much like the strong alumni community, Dartmouth ski connections show up all around the country.

“I came from a large ski area in Colorado, and my boss there was a Dartmouth alum and former Dartmouth skier, and the very frst president and CEO of the resort that I worked at was also a Dartmouth alum,” Adamcyzk said. With the prominence of the Skiway, it has been disheartening to see the lack of snow this season. Dartmouth’s campus, until quite recently, lacked its typical snowglobe look. With warmer temperatures brought on by climate change, this shift presents an existential threat to the Skiway, Adamcyzk said.

“We’re certainly making eforts to understand what are the right steps,” Adamcyzk said. “We’re in the fact fnding phase of that mission, but if you’re to continue Dartmouth’s contribution to skiing and its legacy — not just locally, but skiing as an industry in America and maybe the world — the next steps to take could be efcient and sustainable snowmaking.”

As the Skiway works to combat climate change and unpredictable weather patterns, community members are committed to the protection of this beloved place.

While Adamcyzk said that there weren’t as many visitors at the start of the term due to low snowfall, “well over a thousand” people attend the Dartmouth Skiway on a busy Saturday. The Skiway helps students remain mentally balanced throughout the winter, he added.

“To have a venue to get fresh air, move your body, create endorphins — it’s a huge beneft to a long winter in the Upper Valley,” he said. “While certainly it is not a cure for many mental health problems, I think it is a wonderful venue to help create a healthy balance, both physically and mentally, through the winter here.”

Club alpine ski member Evan Rankin

’25 said he appreciates the Skiway for what it ofers the team.

“We love the Skiway because it’s so close and home turf,” Rankin said. “As far as I can tell as a mere club member, [the Skiway] is pretty accommodating and let us run gates even though the real racing team exists.”

Rankin noted that a way to break the ice with new club members is the traditional freshman wake-ups that initiate students into some Dartmouth organizations. He described the early morning excitement that confuses new club alpine members who are convinced by their peers that they are truly going to be skiing down the mountain before opening hours.

Although the Skiway is not free, Adamcyzk said the Skiway tries to make the activity accessible to students, including “very fair” season pass prices, a $5 discount for booking early and online, free skiing trips through House Communities and inexpensive ski passes during Winter Carnival. Still, he said, one day on the mountain — including a lift ticket and ski or snowboard rentals — would cost a student without a season

“By virtue of Dartmouth College, [the] student body on a Saturday at the Skiway, I would feel comfortable saying it’s probably the most diverse ski area in the country,” Adamcyzk said.

Rankin said his cousin recently visited, and the two were able to travel to the Skiway, where Rankin taught him how to ski. Rankin praises the Skiway’s afordability for young people and the consideration of the Skiway’s policies.

“You don’t have to buy a lift ticket if you just stay on the magic carpet there, which is super thoughtful,” Rankin said.

It is the interactions and loyalty of the community — both Dartmouth students and the wider Upper Valley — that makes the Skiway special, Adamcyzk said.

“I have no connection to Dartmouth other than the Skiway, but immediately when you get here, you have a community of people who stop by and tell you their long connection to this place — generational connections,” Adamcyzk said. “Seeing students ski here who bring their kids back to ski here is really unique.”

With efforts made to increase sustainability, many at Dartmouth hope to continue cultivating these connections to enhance the magic of the Skiway.

Emily Fagell ’25 contributed to reporting.

‘I kind of fly under the radar’: Equipped with only a shovel, Dartmouth’s winningest football coach grooms his own field

Against the backdrop of the 44,000 square-foot Floren Varsity House and the pine trees and mountains that lie beyond it, it’s easy to miss him. But just as expected, he’s back.

The man carries with him the essentials. After 17 years, it’s habitual.

Winter jacket, gloves and a snow shovel.

He makes quick work of the chainlinked fence, follows a straight line to the center of the feld, and prepares himself for work. All this time, if he once rubs his fngers through his now-graying hair, it’s not because he thinks someone’s watching.

The job is bigger than that. Buddy Teevens ’79 knows that.

“It’s respect for Dartmouth, for the institution, certainly for our program,” the Big Green head football coach said of his little-known chore.

Ever since Memorial Field installed artifcial turf in 2006, Teevens has been shoveling the feld’s midfeld D every time it snows.

“I kind of fy under the radar,” Teevens said. “I just thought, ‘Man, it’s beautiful out there, the feld’s covered with snow. And if it’s ofset with the green and the D… it’s a neat little way to lay it out there.”

This past Friday, which saw windchills of -40 degrees Fahrenheit — and a new U.S. windchill record of -108 degrees Fahrenheit atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire — Teevens again geared up for the job.

“I’m glad there wasn’t a lot of snow

because it would have killed me if I had been there much longer,” Teevens joked. He added that he even shoveled a few years ago when a severe snow storm dumped 12-14 inches on the turf.

Amazingly, Teevens does it all by himself, declining ofers of assistance from both his coaching staf and players alike.

“He does insist on doing it,” quarterback and captain Nick Howard ’23 said. “Top to bottom, it’s defnitely something he does all by himself.” And it’s not that Teevens has to do this work. Far from it.

“ He could simply have somebody else do it,” assistant head coach Sammy McCorkle, who has been coaching with Teevens since 2005, said. “But he says ‘Why would I ask somebody else to do it when I can easily go out there and do it myself?’”

McCorkle said it speaks to who Teevens is as a person, and what Dartmouth means to him.

“He’s always been the guy that if there’s garbage on the ground on campus, he doesn’t walk by it —he picks it up,” McCorkle continued. “Nothing is beneath him, and he’s always had that mentality… It doesn’t matter what your status is. Anybody can pick up trash, anybody can shovel a feld.”

But Teevens, in his typical spirit of humility, boiled his shoveling down to a much simpler rationale.

“It’s tagging onto a workout,” Teevens said. “Jump over the fence, traipse out, shovel for 45 minutes to an hour and then back in and go right back to work.”

Aside from his pride for Dartmouth,

in a college football recruiting cycle that’s getting evermore competitive, Teevens said he sees his small deed as just one of the many ways the Big Green attempts to stand out.

“It’s a conversation point because it’s just diferent,” Teevens said. “It’s a point of separation. Always looking for an edge, and displaying the D in the winter months — that’s part of our edge.”

Both Teevens and McCorkle acknowledged that his shoveling has an efect on recruits during campus visits. “ It’s amazing how many parents talk about it and are very impressed about it, and think it’s pretty cool,” McCorkle said.

Having the coldest average winter temperatures of the eight Ivy League institutions, it seems only natural that Dartmouth would try to shield its recruits from the reality of Hanover winters. Instead, the football team chooses to embrace the chill.

“The [recruits] ask, they want to go out there and take a photo shoot in the snow, and they want to do snow angels,” McCorkle said. “Some people think the snow and cold is dreadful, but we turn it around and make it something exciting for those guys.”

Howard said he and his teammates have embraced Teevens’s habit, and they too see it as a testament to the team’s

defned culture of diligence.

“It’s always a fun point to show and let the recruits know that our coach, an older guy, goes out of his way to go and do that just because he feels like it’s important for us,” Howard said. “It defnitely displays the pride that Coach T has in Dartmouth and that he has in particularly our football program.”

Teevens, who in 2016 was featured in the New York Times for eliminating tackling in practice, has always seen himself as a pioneer of sorts.

“I maybe think outside the box in a lot of things,” Teevens said. “And [shoveling the ‘D’ is] one more outside the box thought.”

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE PAGE 8
Stephanie Sowa The Dartmouth Senior Staff BRENNAN WELSH /THE DARTMOUTH PHOTO COURTESY OF LUKE DEHMEL

SPORTS

DOC o ers opportunities for students to get outside in the winter

Despite record-low January snowfall, students have taken the opportunity to ski, sled and get outside this winter. While some students pioneer their own activities, the Dartmouth Outing Club has been lauded for its winter offerings, ranging from diverse winter sports to hot chocolate in the DOC house.

Some winter pastimes come at a cost — a season pass to the Dartmouth Skiway, for example, costs students between $80 and $134 depending on class year — but all DOC day trips are available to students free of charge, according to DOC president Piper Stacey ’23. Stacey added that students can sign up for “almost any trip” regardless of experience through DOC Trailhead, the organization’s digital platform.

“I didn’t get involved in the DOC until my sophomore winter, and when I did — I’m from San Francisco — I was like, ‘I have never really hiked in the snow before. What is that? Am I going to be miserable fulltime?’” Stacey said. “The answer to that question is usually no.”

Stacey added that winter term is “probably the most active term” on campus for the DOC, with the greatest number of DOC subclubs running trips. According to Outdoor Programs Office program coordinator Elliot Ng ’21, more than ten trips can run on a given day, except for Mondays — when many groups meet to plan activities for the week.

While some of the currentlyoperating programs are winterspecific, such as the Alpine Ski Racing Club or the Club Snowboarding Team, many also operate year-round, Stacey said, including Cabin and Trail.

Cabin and Trail

Cabin and Trail — the largest subdivision of the DOC — continues to offer hikes and cabin overnights throughout the winter. According to former Cabin and Trail chair Alex Wells ’22, the club runs “somewhere between five and 20 hikes” per weekend, all listed on Trailhead.

While Wells said winter turnout is lower than in the fall, interest remains high for classic destinations such as Gile Mountain and the club’s more “ambitious” and “risk-involving” hikes — such as Franconia Ridge and Mount Washington.

Wells added that these winter trips are similar to hiking in other seasons, except that students need to layer up and can descend the mountain faster due to the lack of exposed rocks. Hikes, cabins and gear are free to students, he said.

“If you are going on a hike, you can borrow anything that you might possibly need, except for underwear

and socks,” Wells said.

Nordic Ski Club

According to its website, the Nordic Ski Club — which includes classic and skate cross-country skiing, among other activities — provides unlimited free rentals and lessons through DOC funding.

Spencer Mancuso ’25, who went on the club’s break trip to Norway and plans to lead trips this winter, said the group provides a way to get active and off central campus — the golf course, he noted, is fully groomed and open seven days a week.

“One of the biggest things that cross-country skiing does for me on a regular basis is get me out of anything campus-related, like thinking about school,” he said.

“There’s so many places to explore off campus that people don’t know about. And that’s kind of the gift of being here at Dartmouth — is that you can walk 15 minutes and you’re in the woods.”

While Mancuso noted that nordic skiing can be intimidating, he said the Nordic Ski Club “is extremely focused on getting beginners out.”

“That’s one of the main functions of the club — is to spread the love of the sport,” he said.

The Nordic Ski Club also has a biathlon section, consisting of cross-country skiing and rifle target shooting, according to the DOC and club nordic websites.

Alpine Ski Racing Club

According to the DOC website, the Alpine Ski Racing club, known colloquially as club ski, “exists to provide an outlet for alpine skiers who wish to pursue competitive racing but not at the varsity level.”

Club member Nat Schreder ’24 said the group practices twice a week and competes in six races per term, but students can be as involved as they wish — out of 167 GroupMe members, she estimated that only 50 or 60 are active in the club. While students need to register for races at the beginning of the season, Schreder said the club does not make cuts, and practices are listed on Trailhead.

“We’ve got a couple kids who raced in high school and are good, and then a lot of people who just like skiing and are there for the vibes,” she said. “I enjoy that no matter what level you are, you can still just have fun and make the most of it. I like being on a team.”

While the club itself is free, Schreder said members have to pay fees to enter races if they wish to compete. That said, she said the DOC subsidizes race fees and ski jackets, and financial aid is available as needed.

“I think [the DOC has] done a lot to make the financial aspect not a barrier,” Schreder said.

Club Snowboarding Team

According to the DOC website, the Club Snowboarding team “aims to support a community of students with varying levels of skill in snowboarding and foster the growth and prosperity of snowboarding at Dartmouth.”

Club Snowboarding co-captain Devin Tulio ’25, described Club Snowboarding as “a two purpose club” in an email statement — a competition team and a beginnerfriendly space to learn the sport.

“We welcome people of any experience, from never-evers to those that have been riding since they were little,” Tulio wrote. “We normally run trips 2-3 times a week that can function as practices for riders looking to compete but also as a good place for beginners to gain experience, and it offers a great opportunity to ride exclusively with other snowboarders.”

Though the team has not yet competed this season, Tulio noted that last year, the competition team attended “almost all” of the available competitions — even traveling to nationals. Even so, Tulio wrote that “getting people into the sport [is] a top priority” for the club.

To help with this mission, the club has recently introduced a learnto-ride program which includes a three-hour lesson with a certified snowboard instructor and free equipment rentals. According to Stacey, students are able to walk away from the lesson with their own snowboard for “a little bit of money.” She added that, as a DOC activity, financial aid applies to the purchase of the snowboard.

“Overall, we do offer a competitive aspect to the team and have had good success with that but we’re also super committed to getting people into the sport and making it as accessible as possible for everyone,” Tulio wrote.

According to Tulio, the club hopes to offer a wide range of experiences that appeal to a variety of students.

For experienced riders, the club organizes trips to Killington Resort and Whaleback Mountain. The club has also partnered with DOCsubclub People of Color Outdoors to run POCO-specific snowboard discovery programs, according to Tulio. In addition to snowboarding itself, the Club Snowboarding Team also hosts social events and educational demonstrations — such as how to wax and maintain snowboards. “We’re very committed as a club to help minimize as many barriers as possible to accessing winter sports,” Tulio wrote.

Dartmouth Ski Patrol Ski Patrol provides rescue, patrol and safety services on the Dartmouth Skiway, in addition to medical safety support to other DOC clubs throughout the year, according to the DOC website.

Each year, the group interviews first-year students during the fall, ultimately selecting approximately 30 for an interview, according to administrative officer Katherine Takoudes ’24. After the “intensive” 10-week Outdoor Emergency Care course — complete with a midterm, final and “around eight hours a week time commitment” — around 20 students continue onto the ski test, after which 15 are selected as “apprenti” for the organization, Takoudes said.

During their first winter, the apprenti do not patrol or respond to medical scenarios, but rather shadow older members and provide supplies or support. The next year — their sophomore winter — apprenti go through an intense week of training and a final test before becoming vested patrollers, Takoudes added.

Members of ski patrol each take two four-hour shifts per week, according to Takoudes. Although a notable time commitment, she said the organization provides an “escape” from the stress of campus

life.

“It draws me to the Skiway, and it brings me outside for about 10 hours every week, which I absolutely love,” Takoudes said. “And when I’m on shift, I can’t do homework. I need to focus on either a medical scenario, or opening and closing trails or getting down the mountain and bringing someone down in the sled.”

Winter Sports Club

The Winter Sports Club is dedicated to backcountry ski touring, according to the DOC website. Although less common than traditional alpine skiing, trip leader Wyatt Ellison ’25 said that leading beginner trips is part of the group’s mission.

According to Ellison, backcountry skiing involves hiking a mountain using binding skins — a fabric that sticks to the bottom of skis — and then skiing back down.

“It’s fun to explore terrain where there aren’t as many people,” Ellison said. “There’s more fresh snow. And I like it because it’s like winter hiking … It’s combining some of my favorite things, which is winter hiking and skiing.”

Ellison said the club partakes in backcountry trips beyond campus, as well as night laps on the Skiway. He added that the trips and gear are free to students, with the exception of ski boots, as sizing takes too long to complete in the allotted trip time.

While students can get involved with winter activities through Trailhead, Stacey recommended attending weekly meetings in order to “socially integrate into a club.”

“Whether it’s skiing for the first time or hiking or ice climbing or something that’s totally pushing you out of your comfort zone — even in the harsh conditions of the winter — a lot of these activities end up bringing you closer together with the people that are on your trip,” she said.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE PAGE 9
PHOTO COURTESY OF DARTMOUTH OUTING CLUB PHOTO COURTESY OF DARTMOUTH OUTING CLUB

‘’Bov Water’ aims to celebrate personal histories of Black women

The Dartmouth Staff

“’Bov Water” is a story about embracing identity, even if there are gaps in your family history. The small cast of the play, written by Celeste Jennings ’18, includes “Somebody’s Mama” played by Kelly Renee Anderson, “Another Daughter” played by Erin Margaret Pettigrew and “Sister Girl” played by Bobbi Johnson. The story follows the fragmented memories of four generations of Black women from the Antebellum period to modern-day America as they attempt to piece together their own personal and familial narratives.

“’Bov Water” received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support Northern Stage and The Ensemble Theatre’s development of this world premiere production. Based in Houston, The Ensemble Theatre is a company that strives to preserve African American artistic expression, according to the show’s promotional materials. This partnership allows for “’Bov Water” to be performed and filmed in the Byrne Theater in White River Junction and streamed for the The Ensemble Theatre. Both The Ensemble Theatre and Northern Stage are members of the BOLD Women’s Theater Leadership Cohort — an initiative led by Dartmouth senior lecturer and Northern Stage artistic director Carol Dunne that is committed to bridging the gendered gaps women face in the theater industry.

Alexandria Piton ’24, who is currently participating in the Experiential Learning “E-term” collaboration between the Dartmouth theater department and Northern Stage, is also working as the understudy for all roles in “’Bov Water.” Piton described “’Bov Water” as a piece about exploring relationships while searching for family history amid secrets.

“[‘’Bov Water’] explores familial relationships, while also exploring what it means to be a Black woman in America — especially as a descendent from slavery — rather than knowing exactly who you are,” Piton said.

The fragments of stories, consistent time jumps and weaving in and out of characters in the plot of “’Bov Water” are intentional. The artistic choices are inspired by the theme of not knowing your entire family history — and therefore having many gaps in your past. According to Jennings, some characters are present for all four generations whereas others only appear once or twice. Jennings wanted to embrace having incomplete personal histories, while recognizing that not all hope for knowledge is lost.

“Instead of feeling like something is

missing, or like you don’t have the full story, I’m just trying to write something to honor how important these gaps in history are,” Jennings said. “[The gaps] recognize resistance, rebellion and survival opposed to something we don’t get to know and won’t ever know.”

Jennings said she was inspired to write “’Bov Water” because of the lack of context she has for her own family history. Even when attempting to follow up with her family and open up these past narratives, she said they did not want to provide her with any more details.

“It brought so much frustration to me,” Jennings said. “In that little instance of feeling entitled to history, I realized I was unintentionally abusing it by trying to ask my family members to recount traumatic memories or situations that they quite intentionally have forgotten.”

Jennings, who graduated in 2018, began working on “’Bov Water” when she was just 20 years old — though inconsistently. According to director abigail jeanbaptiste, the poetry and non-linear structure at the core of the piece is what makes it special. For example, the play is not broken up into scenes, but is rather a continuous 90-minute experience. “There’s defnitely more fexibility and adaptability that is needed for a play like this,” jean-baptiste said. “Northern Stage was super receptive to that, and we were really blessed to have an incredible team of Black women.”

According to jean-baptiste, the entire production team, from designers to stage managers to choreographers, is composed of Black women. The team’s goal was to center Black women in the production process, rather than just putting Black women on the stage.

The pre-production process for “’Bov Water” deliberately involved the production team in every aspect of the show. jean-baptiste said the production team never felt restricted in their thinking and creativity. Additionally, a large portion of the set was made from recycled materials — for example, the lichen was made from shredded scripts and the physical structure of the set was built by hand with lumber which was used in a previous Northern Stage production.

Laundry is a prominent part of the show — both as an aspect of the set as well as the action of washing and hanging the laundry to dry itself. Laundry is utilized as a symbol of the generations seen in the play, as laundry is passed down through each new generation. In the show, laundry is hung on a tree to dry; drawing upon this imagery, nature also became very important to the production staf.

“Showing the way that we relate to nature and how trees have roots and live many years was important to us,” jean-

baptiste said. “You may have the same tree in your backyard that your great grandmother had when she lived in that house. We really wanted to reconnect generations and bring the outside in for this play.”

jean-baptiste said that she is excited for audience members to feel the wide range of emotions present throughout the play.

“I think that there is really something

for mine and everyone’s identity and family story that will come up in diferent ways depending on how you relate to this family,” jean-baptiste said.

Jennings said that she hopes that audience members resonate with and feel proud of the history that they have, while having the courage to move forward and not look at the questions or gaps as missing information.

‘Hanover Happenings’: A Podcast for the People

“Especially after writing this piece and having so many conversations with the entire team, I feel so proud of every single bit of information that I don’t know just as much as the pieces that I do know,” Jennings said.

“’Bov Water” will be playing until Feb. 12 in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction.

The Dartmouth Hanover community.

For the busy college student, podcasts ofer a convenient way to explore a variety of diferent subjects. Self-care, true crime, relationship advice —you name the topic, there’s a podcast out there covering it. Hanover

Town Manager Alex Torpey believes that the podcast is the perfect medium to “break the ice” between the local government and members of the

After his instatement as Town Manager in June 2022, Torpey noticed the limited social media presence among Hanover town administration. In seeking a solution, he said that he asked himself, “What is the best way to get information to people where they are at?”

The answer, he believed, was

“Hanover Happenings,” a monthly podcast aimed at making information on government projects and community

events more accessible to citizens, especially those unable to attend town meetings.

“Maybe they’ll get interested in coming to an event or joining a board,” Torpey said. “It’s all meant to just create more interactivity. From my perspective, a lot of people talk about government transparency. There’s this phrase that I use: efective and authentic public engagement.”

For Torpey, this engagement is a twoway street. He hopes that in addition

to conveying information to the public, his new podcast will also invite them to share feedback and reach out to local ofcials.

Despite the physical proximity of Hanover’s Town Hall to campus, the people and processes that keep the town running often seem distant to many students.

Listener Bea Burack ’25 noted that for many students, engaging more deeply with local politics would require sacrifcing vital time needed for schoolwork or other responsibilities.

“It’s hard, we’re busy and it’s defnitely a choice for how you’re going to spend your time,” Burack said. “But, [the podcast] defnitely humanizes town government. It’s an opportunity to hear directly from the people who work day in and day out to make sure that we have our roads cleared, our elections run smoothly and all those things we take for granted.”

Episodes of “Hanover Happenings” range from fve minutes to over an hour depending on the subject matter. Currently, Torpey hosts and produces the podcast on his own, but said he hopes to expand coverage in the near future.

“At some point it will be not just updates from me from the select board meetings, but updates from our diferent departments and boards,” Torpey said.

Central to the podcast are spotlight segments in which Torpey highlights the achievements of those working to improve the town.

“Part of it is connecting people in the jobs to the reason for doing the jobs, and showing that we have a ton of people here that are passionate about

what they do, and letting people express that to the broader public,” he said. These spotlights aim to bridge deeper connections between residents and those who work for Hanover, not just in their capacity as government employees, but as community members and individuals. Torpey noted a future podcast episode spotlighting local librarian Sarah Molesworth, who was able to complete the entire 270-mile Long Trail hike in Vermont in a month. Torpey said that he hopes sharing stories like Molesworth’s will encourage listeners to get to know more of the individuals who make up the Hanover community.

For many students, college marks the beginning of their participation in politics. However, this is complicated by the fact that most students arrive on campus with little knowledge of the particular issues facing their new community.

“I think the podcast is a great idea. It makes politics and the going-ons of Hanover a lot more accessible to students who have packed, busy schedules,” Daisy Li ’26 said. “As a new voter in Hanover, I think the podcast is a really great way to get condensed information about the important issues in Hanover and get a broad overview of local politics.”

Torpey said that he has plans for an episode aimed directly at educating new Dartmouth students on local issues. He sees the College and its students as partners in the growth of Hanover, and he added that he hopes this podcast will usher in a new era of increased collaboration between all who call Hanover home.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE PAGE 10
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK WASHBURN VIA RYAN KLINK HANNAH LI / THE DARTMOUTH STAFF PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK WASHBURN VIA RYAN KLINK

MIRROR

Risk Takers and Ice Breakers

I’m trekking up a hillside just after midnight in Chefchaouen, Morocco. The path my friends and I are on is dimly lit by flickering lights, but ten feet in front of us they end — meaning the rest of our journey will be near dark. On either side of us, we can hear dogs barking and howling.

As we approach the end of the path, the four of us hear rustling in the bushes beside us and stop dead in our tracks, thinking it’s one of the feral dogs. Someone grabs a rock; we all tense up. And then, almost comically, a pack of small brown puppies leaps out of the bushes onto our path, and we break out into laughter.

So why am I telling you this story?

Because while I was thinking about all the ways our journey could end badly, two of my friends were cracking jokes — not even a little bit scared. In fact, they were the ones who convinced us all to climb up the hill in the first place. Knowing them, this does not come as a surprise; they are no strangers to putting themselves in risky situations, as they are both rock climbers.

One of my deepest (and now least well-kept) secrets is that I’m a total scaredy cat. As someone who is embarrassingly cautious, I’ve become fascinated with the niche part of Dartmouth that goes ice climbing and spends their weekends mountaineering — and what motivates them.

Among other reasons, Kat Plaza ’25 got into climbing because of how rewarding it was to see herself constantly improve.

“You can see progress so concretely,” Plaza said. “The feeling of physically getting to the top of something gave me a sense of accomplishment I hadn’t experienced in a long time.”

Growing up, Plaza said she did everything — from Model United Nations to varsity softball — but she didn’t begin climbing until a year and

a half ago, when she came across an ad for her local climbing gym during her COVID gap year. Carter Ley ’25, however, started climbing at a young age, when he used to scramble on the boulders — which, he assured me, are “actually bigger than you’d think” — in Central Park.

“No one really climbs in New York, so my parents were worried, and they made me take lessons at a gym,” Ley said. From there, Ley began climbing competitively, and later gravitated to sport climbing — where climbers attach themselves to permanent anchors in the rock — and deep-water soloing — in which people climb on cliffs with a deep body of water below, protecting them from falls .

While Plaza and Ley both had unconventional introductions to the sport, Talis Colberg ’25 grew up in an environment made for climbing — Anchorage, Alaska. As a kid, Colberg spent a lot of time outdoors skiing and hiking, but he first became attracted to the idea of climbing after reading Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air” — not the typical response most people would have to a book about people dying on Everest.

“Some morbid part of my eighthgrade mind thought that it sounded so cool to be up there freezing my ass off in a crazy storm in some crazy place,” Colberg said.

By the time he graduated high school, Colberg was doing “more adventurous things” than just simply bouldering at the gym. One of these was ice climbing, in which climbers ascend frozen waterfalls and cliffs covered in ice from frozen water flow.

“Ice climbing has a lot of appeal that rock climbing doesn’t have,” Colberg said. “Mountain climbing in the snow and ice climbing to me were always the closest thing that you could have to some type of fairytale adventure.”

Ley explained that he began ice climbing to get better at doing longer alpine routes, rather than outright interest.

“It started as something to do in the winter – if you want to get good at climbing long routes in the mountains, you have to be good at rock climbing and ice climbing,” Ley said. “But then [ice climbing] became this thing I really enjoyed.”

But whether it’s ice climbing or rock climbing, the most challenging part of the sport is not physical or mental, but rather another factor entirely: scheduling.

“The hardest thing is finding the time,” Ley said. “Last year, I would go climbing four days a week, and now I’ve gone maybe twice this term.”

It’s hard for any student to fit in any extracurricular activity — let alone one that can fill up an entire day — on top of hours of independent training. Plaza echoed Ley’s statement, but also discussed how she makes it work.

“I just make it a priority and schedule it in, so I don’t really have a choice,” Plaza said. “And when your friends climb it becomes something that everyone does when they have a half or full day off, which is fun.”

This came up time and time again — the sense of community and closeness that climbing brings to those who participate in it.

“There’s a literary romanticism to basically tying yourself to somebody else, and then going to climb some mountain that scares the shit out of both of you,” Colberg said. “You don’t get that level of connectedness in other activities.”

“When you’re pushing yourself, and other people are also pushing themselves at the same thing, it brings you closer,” Plaza said. “I also think that anything that is physically hard and potentially [risky] also bonds people.” Danger is not only a possibility in

climbing, but a reality. Last summer while climbing Mount Moran in Wyoming, Ley was struck by a falling boulder that tore a tendon in his quadricep, and he had to be medically evacuated.

“[The accident] is one reason why I haven’t climbed as much this year, and I haven’t done an alpine route since,” he said.

And Ley is not alone in this dangerous reality.

“I’ve got friends that have gotten hit by rocks or have fallen hundreds of feet,” Colberg said. “I’ve met people on climbs who have died the next day.”

However, this ever-present peril does not drive climbers away from the sport; in fact, it pulls them closer to it.

“Climbing can evoke such a [primal] fear in you that makes you feel silly for getting scared over a midterm or an internship,” Ley said.

“For a majority of my life, climbing has provided me with something bigger — a big goal outside of school, or work or social life.”

Colberg echoed this sentiment. “When you climb something that scares you and you get down to the bottom…the lesser problems in my life are put into perspective and seem very small compared to what I just did,’” he said.

These days, I think a lot about that hill in Chefchaouen – it makes me understand the climbers more. When we reached the top of the hill, it was beautiful; not necessarily because the scene was picturesque, but because I made a somewhat treacherous journey with people I love, and we are all the more bonded for it. Sometimes when things are scary, they are also beautiful because of that risk — the risk that puts it all into perspective, that makes you feel alive and grateful for the life you’re living.

WISE advocates are here for the Dartmouth community every hour, every day. We are completely confidential and survivor-centered. We can answer your questions, help you find resources, navigate systems, and support you as you think through what you want next for your life. We work with all people who have experienced gender-based violence, regardless of age, race, orientation, gender, or identity. Call

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MIRROR

Winter Carnival: ‘The Mardi Gras of the North’

Winter Carnivals of the past are often spoken of with hushed reverence. Tales are recounted of hundreds of visitors traveling from hours away and of television crews focking to campus to document the festivities. In fact, in 1916 National Geographic dubbed it the “Mardi Gras of the North.”

Now, you’d be hard-pressed to fnd anyone who would give today’s Winter Carnival such a lofty title. As I heard from current students, some pointed out that it’s considered to be the least fun big weekend when compared to Homecoming and Green Key.

Spencer Meek ’24 said that although he enjoys Winter Carnival, it isn’t as eagerly anticipated as other big Dartmouth events.

“I don’t know if it really has the hype for me compared to other campus events … it probably has the least amount,” Meek said.

Ellie Sullivan ’24 agreed, refecting on the lack of campus awareness surrounding the weekend.

“You don’t even notice [Winter Carnival] is happening except for some ice sculptures and people going to [Occom Pond] for the Polar Bear Plunge,” Sullivan said.

There is no denying that the Carnival has declined in popularity over the course of its storied history. But can we even transform the weekend back into the eagerly anticipated event it once was?

The seemingly obvious answer would be to bring back popular traditions from the past. For inspiration, I sat down with religion professor Susan Ackerman ’80 to discuss the activities that occurred during her undergraduate years.

“There were parties in residence halls, and the [Hopkins Center for the Arts] took very seriously programming

during Winter Carnival with a lot of big concerts,” Ackerman said. “There was a ski jump on the golf course, and we’d all go to watch people hurl themselves of of it, which was very dramatic and exciting.”

Ackerman also remembered the popular custom of building snow sculptures across campus.

“We didn’t have as much to do [as students do nowadays] … so we all built snow sculptures,” Ackerman said. “People put a lot of work and artistic talent into them, and it was fun to go wander around and look at them.”

Hearing about these traditions may evoke nostalgia for Dartmouth winters of yore, but all things considered, it would be almost impossible to recreate Winter Carnival as it was during its heyday. Ackerman pointed out how many past events can no longer take place — and for good reason.

“There were not enough women for these men to date, so women were ‘imported’ from campuses like [Wellesley College], [Smith College] and [Mount Holyoke College],” she said. “As a women’s studies minor, I found it a really unpleasant weekend … I’m glad we don’t ‘import’ women and commodify them like we used to.”

Though we may have sacrifced some of Winter Carnival’s fanfare, we have made strides in including all members of the community in the celebratory weekend.

“The events that we have now are as inclusive as we can make them, so that everyone in our community feels comfortable partaking in the events that we produce,” Winter Carnival Council co-chair Lucas Gatterman ’23 said.

Even traditions that did originally attempt to include all students have now been abandoned due to societal changes, including an increase in the legal drinking age. For example, when Ackerman was an undergraduate, dorms were able to utilize their social budgets to host parties with alcohol.

“The drinking age changed to 21 instead of 18 … so drinking is not something that can happen all over campus as publicly in the same way,” Ackerman said. “You can’t use residence hall funds to buy alcohol for underage students.”

Similarly, students’ busy schedules mean that events like snow sculpture competitions no longer happen on the same large scale as they did during Ackerman’s time.

“The snow sculpture is nothing like it used to be,” she said. “If students aren’t motivated to build it because they have other things that are more pressing, it’s not going to happen… it takes lots of students.”

Some students pointed out how a few of the harmless old traditions could be brought back. Sullivan expressed interest in bringing back the sleigh rides, which used to occur on the Green, saying that “Winter Carnival would be better” if

Reflection: ‘So Good to See You!’

Compressing the natural progression of a college semester into a barely two month-timeline means that every week here on campus feels like a whirlwind. There are midterms three weeks in and birthday parties and dinners and plans to do ambitious things — like go on road trips to Canada and take beach days in Maine. Somuchof theDartmouth“community” is a gesture towards community — less so a concrete attachment to a person, place or thing, but rather a desire to be tethered to that thing. Dartmouth’s evershifting life makes it hard to have anything permanent — especially friendships — yet the insular nature of the College and its unconventional scheduling can pull us from long-standing friendships formed before Dartmouth. In this strange middle ground, we seek true friendships in an environment marked by transience, urgency and impermanence, fghting the feeling that people are always coming and going.

There is a notion at Dartmouth that for a friendship to work, you must intentionally invest in it. Of course, intention is integral to any relationship, but it is to an infated and consequential degree here: You might miss dinner plans with someone at the end of a term, and then not see them for a whole year afterwards as you alternate “of” terms.

With the ever-changing population at Dartmouth, it can feel hard to have permanent friendships, or a sitcom cast of characters that form a perennially-available friend group. This is true of relationships in your early twenties regardless, but there exists a certain desire — no, need — to be friends with everyone at Dartmouth that isn’t present elsewhere.

Things at Dartmouth often feel precarious, on the verge of changing at any moment. It is impossible to keep track of when people will be on campus and what will happen to your social support system in the wake of the changes each term brings. In response, the unspoken rule is to make sure to keep open the possibility of being closer friends with just about everyone, to keep people feeling positively towards you in case you need to tap into that positivity when suddenly your friends are all elsewhere. How upbeat and cheery

we are in every small interaction we face during a walk through the dining hall or library is taken as a stand-in for how kind we are, how willing to listen to others we are or how pleasant we are to be around generally — and it’s exhausting.

It means that social life here can feel all-encompassing. It can feel like the rises and falls of interaction are what determine the landscape of our social existence, our existence among others.

And given the insular nature of the College and its particular schedule, it is even harder to make time for “home friends.” I’ve found that this immersive environment makes me less likely to keep up wholeheartedly with my friends at home, my friends who know me not for how bubbly I was in Blobby or how out of it I seemed at lunch in the Hop, but who know me for falling asleep at movies and ordering takeout to the playground after hours, for what I do when I am totally comfortable and have nothing to prove, when I am not worried about losing or making friends.

The other day, I was reminded of this phenomenon by a strange, familiar yet distant fgure — 8 Ball Hall. Wrapped by panoptical windows that face into the underbelly of the Collis Student Center, the Hall sits empty most of the day. It couldn’t help but remind me of this New Year’s Eve when my friends and I played just about 20 games of pool, in the lobby of a brownstone on Columbia University’s campus.

When I think about life before Dartmouth, I’m fooded with memories of getting caught in the rain, mesmerized by my frst psychedelic experience at the Met and late nights at the baseball diamond in Park Slope.

These moments didn’t come through a concerted efort, or a long-planned weekend trip, or a group chat that was constantly talking. These relationships required less direct attention to build and maintain — it almost feels like a foreign concept that we became friends through happenstance, through last-minute plans and mutual friends. Perhaps it’s the rosy glow of nostalgia tinting my memories, and perhaps everyone feels this way about their high school friends. Still, somehow,

the lack of efort it took to become close to them makes me feel like these friendships were flled with more sincerity than some of my friendships here.

But friendships within the Dartmouth community are not to be undersold — people here are largely kind and open, and in some way or another most of us are connected by a handful of degrees of separation. Most of us know each other, have seen each other and we all speak in the same lingo — Foco, @now, need three, fitz. We email each other birthday party invites and share swipes and DBA like they’re Monopoly money. It is rare to be in a space where we can interact so frequently and so easily with one another, where “far away” means a 15-minute walk. The D-Plan guarantees that every term brings a new set of routines and oftentimes new friendships. We fnd ourselves spending more time with diferent friends, based on running into them frequently or starting to share mutual friends or sharing interest in the same activities or just having the same schedule for eating and moving from building to building.

Yet, when it is so easy to make friends and add people to the growing list of friends we really “should” see, we can become callous to the beauty in friendship. It can feel like friendship is a euphemism for a social form of networking, where we treat everyone like a possibility — a possibility for a party invite or someone who shares a lot of mutual friends with us, or someone who could teach us this skill or take us on that DOC trip. With all the requisite lunches and cofees and get-togethers, it can feel like playing whack-a-mole with your time to try and maintain long blocks of free time wherein work can actually get done.

I didn’t spend my teen years trying to make the most of the “experience” of growing up in my hometown; I didn’t worry about trying to squeeze as much juice as possible out of my evolving relationships. I didn’t hold myself to the impossible standard of making everyone happy all the time without trying and without seeming like I was dependent on the relationship. Maybe the thing to do is just to stop trying to do anything more than be present in the interactions that I do have, and not treat them as means to an end.

they were to return. Ackerman echoed this sentiment.

“There used to be a fgure-skating competition on Occom that was quite famous, and even televised during the early days of television, which would be fun [to bring back],” Ackerman said. These two ideas show that there are elements of past Winter Carnivals the College can draw on to shape its future. And even though current students may not think of Winter Carnival as their favorite Dartmouth event, the weekend often still holds meaning for the student body.

Winter Carnival Council co-chair Piper Gilbert ’25 said the Polar Bear Swim was her favorite event during last year’s Carnival.

“I loved hanging out with friends beforehand in line and getting to meet new people, and actually getting to do it was so much fun,” Gilbert said.

Gatterman said that he loves the human dogsled and snowshoe races. As an announcer for the events at past Winter Carnivals, he enjoyed “coming up with jokes that were horrible but themerelated.”

“When I was a freshman, I helped to run these events, and I fell in love with how fun it is to watch people run around in fair and not know how to run in snowshoes,” Gatterman said.

Students have expressed hope for the future of Winter Carnival, ofering suggestions that draw on old activities for potential new traditions to improve the weekend.

“It would be cool if there were some on-campus skiing or sled races or Iditarod dog races … or if there was a culinary component incorporated into Foco with local cheeses or shaved ice for the weekend,” James Hood ’23 said.

As we refect on the Winter Carnivals lost to the past, Ackerman pointed out that the popularity of old Winter Carnivals does not mean they can, or even should, be recreated.

“Students always say ‘bring back the old Carnival,’ but it’s not that easy,” Ackerman said.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023 THE DARTMOUTH WINTER CARNIVAL SPECIAL ISSUE PAGE 12
SAM PAISLEY/THE DARTMOUTH
LUCY HANDY/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

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