The Dartmouth 02/24/2023

Former Safety and Security officer Teddy Willey remembered by coworkers as being ‘full of

SWCD ratifies $21 base wage contract in unanimous vote

BY JACKIE WRIGHT & HEYA SHAH

The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 23, 2023.

By midnight on Feb. 21, the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth voted unanimously to ratify a contract with the College for a new $21 hourly wage.

According to SWCD vice chair Sheen Kim ’23, voter turnout was 90%, and the SWCD is ready to meet with the College to officially sign the contract.

Key will be paid 50% more than their regular salary. The contract contains a no-strike clause, but the clause preserves SWCD’s right to sympathy strike in solidarity with other workers and conduct unfair labor practice strikes if working conditions “become egregiously unsafe or unacceptable,” according to Çolakoğlu.

BY ADRIANA JAMES-RODIL

The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 23, 2023.

Teddy Willey — a former Department of Safety and Security officer who died on Feb. 9 — was a devoted volunteer and friend, remembered for his generosity. Those who knew him described him as the type of man who would give someone in need the clothes off his back and the shoes off his feet.

Willey worked as a Safety and Security officer for 20 years — from Sept. 10, 2000 to April 23, 2020 —

before retiring and moving back to his home state of West Virginia to take care of his mother, Patricia A. Johnson. The Dartmouth connected with Willey during his final year at the College in 2020 for a ride-along and Q&A story.

Prior to his role at the College, Willey worked as an underground coal miner for 20 years — developing Black Lung Disease as a result, according to Safety and Security director Keiselim Montás. However, medical issues never deterred Willey from serving his community.

Willey died in his mother’s home in West Virginia due to health complications related to Lyme

disease, according to Montás.

Willey was born on March 2, 1959, to Johnson and late father Teddy K. Willey Sr., according to an obituary from Ronald Meadows funeral home. He is survived by his mother, daughter Jessica Willey, sister Evelyn Willey Walker and long-time best friend and former partner Lesia Vorachak.

“It’s a loss of a human being who was sensitive, and he was cared for and loved by many,” Montás said. “That’s always painful.” Safety and Security officer Stephen Samson said Willey was the first officer he met when he first arrived

Hanover Police issue arrest warrant for suspect accused of groping

BY THE DARTMOUTH

This article was originally published on Feb. 20, 2023.

SENIOR STAFF emerged — “targeted women at random” by “grabbing their buttocks.” The assaults, which were reported on Jan. 24, occurred on the suspects’ way to work and while he was at work on campus. Hanover Police lieutenant Michael Schibuola previously told The Dartmouth that the suspect formerly held a non-academic position at the College that did not include regular interactions with students.

On Feb. 17, the Hanover Police department issued an arrest warrant for the suspected perpetrator of several cases of unwanted sexual touching reported by female students in January, according to a press release from Hanover Police. The suspect has been identifed as 18-year-old Piermont, New Hampshire resident William Menard.

According to the press release, Menard — who held a temporary position at the College and was fred after the allegations

Hanover Police have been working with Safety and Security to investigate the suspect, and anyone with additional information about the investigation or Menard’s location is encouraged to contact Hanover Police, according to the press release.

The ratified contract includes an increase from $15 to $21 per hour base pay for the upper pay scale — which applies to student workers at Novack Cafe, Class of 1953 Commons, Courtyard Cafe, Ramekin and other cafe locations. Base pay for snack bar and Collis market employees will also increase from $13 to $20 per hour. According to Kim, there will also be a “small percentage increase” in wages in the future if Dartmouth’s cost of attendance increases. She added that along with increased wages, the contract establishes new sick pay and mental health pay policies.

According to SWCD treasurer and bargaining committee member ale morales ’24, the contract’s mental health pay clause outlines up to two hours of paid time off per term for students working less than eight hours a week, four hours for those working eight to 16 hours per week and six hours PTO each term for those working more than 16 hours a week.

“For us this is — at least in any contract we’ve seen — the first time that this [mental health pay] is formally recognized as an issue that needs a solution,” morales said. “We hope that this type of clause will become the norm in other undergraduate union contracts.”

SWCD chair Kaya Çolakoğlu ’24 said that the demands put forth in the proposed contract were based on a survey of what student DDS workers needed.

“We surveyed the student [worker] population, asked them what they want, what changes they would like to see in the workplace and what they valued,” Çolakoğlu said. “We put on a platform which was voted on by the membership, and then we got to work fighting for that platform. Most of the demands in that platform are now a reality.”

Çolakoğlu added that for the first time, Dartmouth Dining student workers will be able to earn additional “premium rates” as a result of the contract. With these new rates, students working after 10 p.m., during the finals period or during big weekends like Homecoming or Green

Çolakoğlu said that SWCD is currently operating through donations and volunteer work, and lawyer Tim Belcher is advising them pro bono. She said that in the future there will be a 2% wage deduction from all students receiving the $21 hourly wage to fund the union.

SWCD submitted their proposal — which the College initially refused — on Jan. 24. During the week of Feb. 13, SWCD held a unit-wide vote to authorize a strike, which was approved by 99% of SWCD with 80% voter participation. On Feb. 17, SWCD announced its intent to strike if the College did not “accept its demands” by midnight. The College called a meeting Saturday evening, where they verbally accepted the SWCD’s proposal.

“[There were] like 30 of us in a crowded room and they say, ‘the College is prepared to accept SWCD’s January package proposal,’” Kim said. “It was very wild, and it was a very emotional moment for a lot of us. It was the fact that they had heard these demands, that they had an inkling of how far we were willing to go and of the power that we have as a unit and the power that we have as workers, giving our labor and our value to the school.”

College spokesperson Diana Lawrence and assistant vice president of business and hospitality David Newlove declined to comment.

Manuel Rodriguez ’23, who is a student manager at Novack Cafe, Cafe@Baker and a snack bar worker, said he believed that an hourly wage increase is especially important given the diverse population that works at Novack.

“Novack definitely has a lot of student workers who come from firstgeneration, low income backgrounds, queer backgrounds — a lot of underrepresented groups on campus,” Rodriguez said. “For me at least, the increase to $21 an hour does offer the opportunity for a lot of us to pay our Dartmouth bills and pay for different expenses that might come up as an emergency, [or] send money back home.”

ale morales is a former member of The Dartmouth’s Arts staff and Sheen Kim is a member of the Opinion staff.

College rejects voluntary recognition of Graduate Organized Laborers at Dartmouth

BY THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF & JACKIE WRIGHT

This article was originally published on Feb. 22, 2023.

In a Feb. 21 message posted on the College’s website, Provost David Kotz wrote that the College had decided not to voluntarily recognize a graduate student union organized by Graduate Organized Laborers at Dartmouth that would be associated with the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE).

Kotz wrote that unionization would slow down an already “efficient” system of communication between the College and graduate students, currently mediated by collaboration with the Graduate Student Council.

Kotz wrote that Dartmouth does recognize graduate student workers’ right to unionize, pursuant to a 2016 ruling in favor of graduate students by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). However, Kotz noted that eforts to unionize would require an election based on NLRB regulations.

According to the UE website, the union includes workers in traditional jurisdictions including electrical

manufacturing and metalworking, as well as federal contract workers, teachers, clerical workers, graduate workers and other types of employees. The Graduate Organized Laborers of Dartmouth website calls upon the College to recognize its union and a variety of goals, including a higher graduate student stipend, increased privileges for international students — like visas for immediate family members — and subsidized childcare.

According to the College, Ph.D. students currently receive $35,196 in annual stipends and annual tuition scholarships equivalent to $80,916.

According to a document published by the College, unionization of GOLD would remove the Graduate Student Council’s ability to work on behalf of graduate students with the College — leaving the union as the “sole authority and exclusive agent empowered to negotiate with Dartmouth for issues related to compensation, hours worked, and other conditions of employment.”

“Dartmouth believes that collective bargaining may slow down individualized response to situations that arise and would introduce additional cost, time, and bureaucracy to a system that is already working

efciently. We would like to emphasize that if a majority of students voting in such an election are in favor of unionization, the union will be recognized immediately and include all graduate student workers, including those who did not vote or do not want to be in a union,” Kotz wrote in the letter.

According to Ph.D student and GOLD organizer Rendi Rogers, GOLD sent the request for voluntary recognition of a union to the college on Feb. 14.

“We are going to fle a petition and request a recognition election for the beginning of spring term, and based on how they’re doing at other schools we expect to win by a huge margin,” Rogers said. She cited graduate student worker unionization elections at Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University, both of which resulted in over 90% approval from graduate workers.

Upon GOLD’s request, the National Labor Relations Board will send employees to Dartmouth to hold the recognition election, and graduate workers will cast their ballots at polling places on campus, according to Rogers.

In Oct. 2021 GOLD formally started handing out union cards and since then 70% of the unit has signed cards.

“Our top line is a living wage. So when we frst started out, we came up with the number 1,668 [dollars], which is how much additionally to what we’re already paid per month, it would take for us to live without rent burden in the Hanover area,” Rogers said.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, rent burden is defned as “spending more than 30 percent of income on housing.” Rogers said GOLD also wants to negotiate for “comprehensive benefts” including childcare, full scale reproductive care, dental and vision insurance, as well as insurance for dependents.

“It’s a really good example for us to point to that they were at the bargaining table, negotiating for what were really common sense measures they had with credible arguments laid out for why they wanted what they wanted. And [they] were told time and time again by administration that it wasn’t possible and then, as soon as they showed a strong capability of withholding their labor, suddenly all of those things became possible,” Rogers said.

life’

PHOTO COURTESY OF KEISELIM MONTAS

Q&A with Safety and Security officer Stephen Sampson

Students create proposal to reduce Montgomery House energy consumption

BY CHARLOTTE SADELAIN The Dartmouth

A team of fve students Adelina Sederman ’23, Harrison Munden ’23, Kaulana Kanno ’23, Sophie Edelman ’22 and Nate Roe ’23 — are conducting a project to reduce the energy consumption of Montgomery House, a residence overlooking Occom Pond occupied by visiting Montgomery Fellows.

The project is part of the framework of ENGS 89, “Engineering Design Methodology and Project Initiation” and ENGS 90, “Engineering Design Methodology and Project Completion,” a two-course sequence in which senior engineering students work with a sponsor and professional consultants to execute a project proposal, Sederman said.

wiring, addressing air leaks, switching incandescent lighting to LED bulbs, putting in additional insulation in the basement, changing the air conditioning to a heat pump and switching from an oil steam boiler to a condensing propane boiler. She added that implementing these changes is estimated to result in a 71.5% reduction of energy use and save the house about $2,000 a year.

At the end of the term, the team will present their proposal to ENGS 90 professor Solomon Diamond and their sponsors from the Montgomery Fellows Program.

BY ISABELLE HAN The Dartmouth Staff

This article was originally published on Feb. 21, 2023.

Patrol officer Stephen Sampson has worked in the Department of Safety and Security for more than 15 years. The Dartmouth jumped into his patrol car for a ride-along as Sampson described the job and his observations as a security officer on campus. During the ride-along, he drove through the entirety of Dartmouth’s campus — from the Connecticut River to Thompson Arena to A Lot — while on the lookout for anything that might impact the wellbeing of students on campus.

What does your typical day look like?

SS : At the beginning of our shift, we have a half hour shift briefing when our sergeant goes over everything that’s happened since we were here last — kind of a summary of what happened. We then come down to the cruiser to do what we call a “cruiser check” of all the lights, the laptops, our equipment in the back — like the fire extinguishers — and making sure there’s no damage to the vehicles. Then we start on a random patrol throughout campus. When we’re not patrolling in the cruiser, we could do foot patrols. We can go into buildings and walk around. And then we obviously go to any calls that come in throughout the shift.

What is the difference between a day and a night shift?

SS : The number of calls and the different types of calls. During the day, we’re doing a lot of medical transports, such as for people who are on crutches. At night, you get calls like unlocks and Good Sams. One of the big differences from day to night is that the night shift has almost no resources. During the day shift, everybody’s here — all the counselors, the Facilities, Operations and Management staff. At night, it’s very limited: It’s us and a couple of nurses. We have a bunch of people on call who we can reach out to at night, but they’re not readily available compared to the day shift.

How often do calls come in?

SS : It’s so random. We can go on a 10-hour shift and never have a call. But then the next day, you could have 10 calls in an hour.

How have the concerns of Safety and Security evolved over the last couple of years?

SS : One of our biggest things is the welfare checks. We do a lot more of those than we ever used to. I feel like when I started 15 years ago, we almost didn’t do anything related to mental health. I also feel like partying has slowed down a lot on campus. When I first started, we were super busy with parties and intoxicated students, that kind of stuff. Now, it seems like it’s really slowed down.

Do you think COVID-19 is related to that slowdown?

SS : No, it slowed down before COVID. I think everything’s kind of back to normal as far as the frat parties.

Which shifts do you prefer?

SS : My favorite shift is the evening shift. I feel like it’s the busiest. Time goes by quicker. It’s a fun shift for me to work.

What keeps the job interesting?

SS : I like not knowing what’s coming. A call can be anything — it can be as simple as an unlock, to a transport, to a bomb threat or something worse than that. It’s always up in the air of what it possibly could be.

Are there any trends you’ve seen in terms of Greek life on campus?

SS : Besides the parties slowing down, nothing else has really seemed to change. When you go down to the basement of a party, there used to be hundreds of people in the basement on a Friday night. I don’t work Friday nights, but I know from talking to some of my co-workers that they’re nowhere near as busy as they used to be. I don’t know what brought that on. It was just a culture change over the years.

What are some of the reasons why you would go into a Greek house?

SS : We go into Greek houses once a week for a safety visit. We check the fire extinguishers and make sure nothing is blocking the exits. Party checks depend on how big the party is. We can go in an unlimited number of times — if we see concerns we can keep going in to try to deal with those concerns. We don’t go out of our way to go into a frat, so usually we only go in if there’s an issue or if the brothers or sisters invite us in for any reason.

Some students believe that Safety and Security targets Greek organizations — would you say that this is true?

SS: Not at all. We are defnitely not out to not out to get them. We’re not there to get anybody in trouble. It’s more work for all of us — it’s more paperwork for us, it’s more report writing. It’s more everything for everybody involved. We’re out there for the safety of the students. If we see a frat doing something that’s unsafe, we have to step in.

How do you respond to calls involving intoxicated students?

SS: Now that Dick’s House is open coming out of COVID, it gives us another option. We always respond by evaluating the student. The Dartmouth EMS responds to intoxicated calls with us. Then, the group of us make a decision of what we think is best. If we think we can get the person to Dick’s House, that’s the preferred method. They go to Dick’s House, they spend the night there and then in the morning they get released. If the person is so intoxicated that we can’t get them to Dick’s House, then we have no choice but to call an ambulance.

Would you say there are a lot of thefts on campus?

SS: Yes, we defnitely have a lot of thefts. Whether it be a jacket, a laptop, a backpack or a bike — which account for a huge number of thefts.

When you’re in town, what is the distinction between the jurisdiction of the Hanover Police Department versus the jurisdiction of the Department of Safety and Security?

SS: The only jurisdiction we have is on Dartmouth’s property, whether it be in our buildings or on the land of our property. Besides that we don’t have any jurisdiction, such as on the town sidewalks. We keep an eye out on stuf. If we see something unsafe on a sidewalk, we notify the Hanover police. But there’s nothing that we can do to intervene with something happening on the sidewalk on Main Street.

What made you decide to come to Dartmouth?

SS: 15 years ago, I knew a bunch of people at work here. Many of those same people still work here. And they told me how great of a place it was to work here, the pay, the benefts. Everything is great about it.

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

The sponsors that the team is working with are Montgomery Fellows Program administrators, program director Steve Swayne and assistant director Ellen Henderson, Sederman added.

“The Montgomery Fellows Program was established to beneft students, particularly undergraduates, so it made sense to have undergraduates working on a project that would help to make the house more energy efcient, as opposed to going to external contractors to do that,” Swayne said.

The team spent the fall term determining the house’s current baseline energy consumption, according to Edelman. She added that the process entailed looking through electricity and fuel oil billing records, installing an electricity monitoring system and conducting an energy audit at the house. The energy audit included determining how much air was leaking in and out of the house and conducting thermal imaging to identify what parts of the wall were colder — and thus in need of more insulation — Edelman said.

The house’s energy consumption per square foot is higher than most dorms on campus, even though dorms are more densely occupied and would thus be expected to use more energy, also according to Edelman.

In the winter term, the team began to identify technically feasible, cost-effective solutions that would reduce energy consumption. Roe said that identifying potential solutions requires “balancing” the availability of manpower and resources, ensuring the residence experience is not disrupted and abiding by historic preservation guidelines.

Sederman said that the team has identified six main solutions: making changes to the electrical

“As soon as this class ends in the winter, our hands are of the project,” Sederman said. “We’re basically planting the seed and we’re leaving it up to the sponsors to water that seed … so we are relying on our calculations and our research to really convince them to want to do this work.”

Swayne said that there is no concrete timeline for the implementation of the proposal and emphasized the need to maintain the liveability of the house for the Fellows residing there, which may lengthen the process.

Edelman also said that their work could have an impact on the broader Dartmouth community.

“These auxiliary buildings on campus … consume about a sixth of the college’s electricity,” Sederman said. “They might all be really individually small, but they still are a big part of the energy picture on campus, so hopefully we can start some progress towards fxing them up and making them more sustainable.”

According to sustainability director Rosie Kerr, the Sustainability Ofce has been working with the group to advise and liaise with their sponsors. She also highlighted the proposal’s relevance to energy equity by addressing how existing housing stock can be improved.

“Figuring out not just how to build high performance buildings when you’re building a new building, but also how to make current existing buildings that people live in more energy efcient over time, is actually a critical function as we work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Kerr said.

In partnership with the Montgomery Fellows Program, the group will contribute to additional efforts to publicize their work, such as creating an educational display — which will be shown in the Irving Institute for Energy and Society, Munden said.

“The display’s goal is to educate students and professors on Dartmouth’s campus about building efciency and how important it is to decrease the impacts of climate change over time,” Munden said.

Willey worked as a Safety and Security o cer on campus for 20 years

at the College about 15 years ago.

He said Willey took him “under his wing.”

“He was a great guy,” Samson said. “He got along with everybody. There wasn’t a person on campus, as far as faculty and staff [go], that didn’t know Teddy.”

Montás added that Willey was “exemplary” both as an officer and union representative because “he really understood and practiced compassion.”

Service Employees International

Union Local 560 president Christopher Peck said the union grew to include Safety and Security employees around 2000, which was about the time he met Willey. Due to Willey’s involvement in a union while he was working in the coal mines, Peck added that Willey wanted to be involved in union organizing at

the College as well. Over time, Peck said, Willey rose in the ranks of the union — becoming secretary by 2008, and eventually Ombudsman.

“He was just the type of person that was infectious, just a good person,” Peck said. “He talked the talk, and he walked it. He offered himself to everybody at no charge, and that’s a rare trait nowadays.”

Willey, a devoted volunteer and member of the Lebanon Outing Club’s board of directors, was recognized for his service when he was selected as the Lebanon Recreation and Parks Commission’s 2012 Volunteer of the Year for his work at Storrs Hill, according to Montás.

Director of recreation and parks for the City of Lebanon Paul Coats wrote in an email statement that Willey “was the type of person whose impact will be remembered for many years beyond his time with us.”

In addition to his job at the College,

Willey worked about 30 hours per week at Storrs Hill — operated by the LOC — to ensure the ski area remained open. According to Valley News, he ran the lift, made snow, patrolled the parking lot, assisted at ski jump meets and organized the other volunteers.

Montás laughingly recalled that, ironically, Willey “didn’t ski.”

According to the funeral home obituary, Willey “loved to ride his motorcycle all over God’s beautiful country, from the mountains to the beaches and everything in between.”

Vorachak added that Willey had explored Nova Scotia and other parts of the American countryside on his motorcycle.

Lebanon Outing Club president Cory Grant wrote in an email statement that the LOC will be installing a plaque with a picture of Willey at the bottom of the lift shack at Storrs Hill on June 10 to

commemorate Willey’s volunteer work — an occasion the community can attend.

“Known for his friendly, encouraging and welcoming personality and his fantastic hats, there are countless kids in the UV who loved coming to the hill to see Teddy,” Grant wrote. “His enthusiasm was contagious and, after he left the UV, we cherished his return visits to the hill. Someone like Teddy doesn’t come along often.”

Former LOC member Todd Caruso wrote in an email statement that Willey would “cook breakfast” for the snowmakers at Storrs Hill following overnight shifts at Dartmouth.

“All in all, he did this without pay, and not for recognition,” Caruso wrote. “He gave so much of himself for the smiles and joy that he created all around him.”

As well as being a generous volunteer and co-worker, Willey was

a beloved friend.

“He was so humble, kind and caring and would help anybody — always,” Vorachak said. “He didn’t care if he knew you [because] by the time he would start talking to you, you were his friend.”

Safety and Security communications officer Chrismas Converse recounted when she became critically ill for 16 months. In an email statement, she wrote that Willey would visit her house and assist the visiting nurses and physical therapist every Friday, in addition to bringing over “healthy treats.”

“You could always count on a hug and a ‘we got this’ at the end of the day,” Converse wrote. “Words can’t [describe] how he was one of a kind, true, genuine, and full of life.” Willey’s funeral took place on Feb. 14 at the Ramp Holiness Church in Sandstone, West Virginia, where Willey was a member.

FROM WILLEY

KATELYN HADLEY/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Verbum Ultimum: Common Cents

Dartmouth finally gave up on denying student dining workers fair pay. It should read the writing on the wall and fairly compensate other student workers too.

The Case for High Speed Rail in the US

It’s time for the United States federal government to invest in high speed rail.

This article was originally published on Feb. 21, 2022.

Within 24 hours of the vote to strike by the Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth, news broke that the College had suddenly changed its mind on the union’s package proposal and verbally accepted it. Let that sink in. After all the time and lawyers’ fees wasted on stalled negotiations, which began all the way back in May 2022, all it took was one email threatening a strike for the house of cards to tumble down. The outcome sure seems inevitable, at least in retrospect.

After SWCD’s success, we are left wondering: What comes next for all of our other student workers?

Currently, SWCD only represents student dining workers — meaning countless others do not have the same extent of protection. And we are not just talking about undergraduate students: Graduate students are also unprotected by a union — although they are working on changing that — leaving them out to dry when advocating for just compensation.

Dartmouth’s minimum wage for student workers is abysmal: undergraduate pay has an $11.50 per hour minimum and Ph.D. students receive a minimum stipend of $35,196 — with plans to increase to $40,000 by July 2023.

According to the Graduate Organized Laborers at Dartmouth’s Instagram, graduate student stipends are so low relative to the cost of living in the Upper Valley that many report spending 50% or more of their income on rent — far exceeding the 30% rule commonly advised by financial planners. As the SWCD made clear in their 11-point case for fair pay, many undergraduate workers must work multiple jobs in addition to studying to make ends meet for them and their families — who we must not forget often depend on their earnings — because wages are so low.

There are two ways in which we can determine what wages and stipends should be. One option is to explore what students’ time is worth, and another is to look at metrics defining a ‘livable wage’ here in Hanover. Regardless of which standard you use, the conclusion is clear: Students are compensated far below what they should be for the essential labor they provide to the College.

Paying students less than their time is worth is an affront to their dignity. That being said, we recognize that the exact value of an hour of a student’s time is hard to quantify. It would require valuing the alternatives to working, such as an hour of studying or participating in some extracurricular activity. We obviously do not have access to such data — but we do have access to the minimum wages at peer colleges, which can serve as a rough proxy. We collected data from six of the seven other Ivy League schools plus Bowdoin, Middlebury and Bates Colleges. The University of Pennsylvania does not provide an undergraduate student minimum wage and was thus excluded from this comparison. We found that the average minimum wage at these schools was about $13.92. Harvard offers $15 an hour and some other schools approach that rate — Yale University plans to increase its minimum wage to $15 this spring. Out of these nine peer institutions, Dartmouth has the lowest minimum student wage.

Even if you pretend there isn’t a case for students to be paid for the value of their time — and we absolutely think there is — Dartmouth is still underpaying students compared to its peer institutions. We see absolutely no reason why Dartmouth students’ time might be somehow worth less than the time of students at peer schools.

The other way of looking at the issue is through the lens of a livable wage. After all, a large proportion of student workers work not because they just want some extra spending money but because they need the funds to live. When those students must trade away so many of their hours just to get by, they are put at a huge disadvantage compared to their peers, both academically and socially. The least the College can do is ensure students are compensated fairly so that they can pay their bills without undue burden. The

College’s financial aid programs simply do not cover the full breadth of what students need.

The livable wage based on cost of living metrics here in Hanover for an individual without children in Hanover is about $22.82. Dartmouth’s minimum undergraduate wage is $11.50. Let that sink in. In other words, Dartmouth’s student minimum wage is about half of what someone needs to be able to afford to live here. Let that sink in. A livable wage just means getting by — no one gets rich off of a livable wage. While none of the peer schools we referred to earlier have a minimum wage equal to the living wage for their location, few are as far below it as Dartmouth is. As the SWCD made clear, raising student worker compensation would be a miniscule expense compared to the College’s overall budget — meaning its affordability to the College is not up for debate.

We are glad to hear that the College has announced its intention to review pay scales for student workers in the coming weeks. We hope they see the light, avoid costly and wasteful future strife and simply raise wages to something reasonable for all. While we recognize that dining work is particularly demanding and it is therefore unrealistic to expect all student workers to be paid at the same rate that SWCD recently earned, the status quo is simply embarrassing.

We also urge the College to ensure that graduate students receive sufficient stipends and support to meet their needs. Graduate students are an integral part of our community and it is wrong for them to get anything less than what they need. We were very disappointed to hear of the College’s denial of voluntary recognition to the GOLD. We were even more disappointed to hear Provost David Kotz parrot the overused, tired and misleading anti-union rhetoric which employers often use to try to convince workers that unions are somehow against their interests. His claim that “collective bargaining may slow down individualized response to situations that arise and would introduce additional cost, time, and bureaucracy to a system that is already working efficiently” is especially laughable. If that were anywhere near true, no one would want to unionize. The system only works efficiently for the College, not students. The College should feel embarrassed that they are grasping at straws in this manner.

Soon enough, a vote will be held likely confirming what we already know — that graduate students overwhelmingly support the union. 70% of them have already signed cards saying so. If history repeats itself, they will then try to negotiate a contract and maybe threaten to strike, and the College will likely cave — as they did with the SWCD once they realized there was no other way out. The only thing the College wins in this game is a delay of the inevitable for a few months.

In order to prevent this avoidable situation from ever happening again, we further urge the College to tie the student minimum wage and graduate student stipends to annual inflation. That way, adjustments are automatic and predictable. Not only is this good for students, but it’s also good for the College — it both prevents the bad press that would accompany future labor showdowns and allows for predictable expenses for the College’s accountants.

Finally, if the College will not raise student compensation sufficiently on a voluntary basis, we urge it to voluntarily recognize other unions that might form and to continue to refrain from any violations of the right to unionize as established under federal law. Doing so would likely result in heavy penalties for the College, as other employers like Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and Amazon are finding out the hard way while their shortsighted union-busting tactics work their way through the courts.

Fair compensation for student workers is the right thing to do, and it’s the most likely outcome, too. The sooner and smoother we get there, the better — for all of us.

To start this winter term at Dartmouth, I took an Amtrak from New York City to White River Junction. As I sat on the train for the seven-hour journey, I couldn’t help but imagine how little time a similar route would take in a place like Europe or Southeast Asia. In Japan, a train ride from Tokyo to Osaka — a journey 30 miles longer than New York City to White River Junction — would take just over two hours. Now, this may not be the best example, as White River Junction is much more rural than Osaka, but let’s apply this comparison to a 300-mile train ride from Boston to Philadelphia, an equidistant journey to the Japan example. I found that a $125 (at the cheapest) Amtrak train ride would take up to six hours. For 35 dollars less, a 300-mile ride from Paris to London would take about two hours. In Europe, traveling via train is incredibly efficient and cheap.

I argue that it is time for our federal government to confront this lack of high speed rail in America.

While people may point out that there is no market for rail travel in America, I claim that without substantial HSR infrastructure, lack of train usage is a poor metric when it comes to assessing true demand. In fact, according to a poll conducted by the Rail Passengers Association in 2022, 78% of respondents said they wanted more train investment. In a press conference, Rail Passengers Association president Jim Mathews stated that the poll was “broad-based across all demographics — Republicans, Democrats and Independents, men and women of all ages and races and even rural or urban living.”

The argument that there is no market for rail travel thus does not seem to hold true. With this understanding, it is imperative to think of solutions to not only inefficient travel in the United States, but also to our climate crisis. When confronting the high carbon emissions released by cars, we should encourage the use of trains. Compared to planes and cars, they are substantially lower emission alternatives. More than 20% of the world’s oil consumption is used by the United States, which holds only about 5% of the world’s population.

Transportation in America — overwhelmingly carried out by cars — contributes to 27% of our carbon emissions. However, as China’s investment in HSR has shown us, there is far less highway use when people have more access to trains. According to Nature Climate Change, “expansion of the High Speed rail network between 2008 and 2016 led to a significant reduction in carbon emissions in the transport sector” in China. In the United States, moving freight via train versus trucks lowers emissions by 75% on average, according to the Association for American Railroads.

The same study showed that “in 2021 alone, U.S. freight railroads consumed 790 million fewer gallons of fuel. They emitted nine million fewer tons of carbon dioxide than they would have if their fuel efficiency had remained constant since 2000.” Expanding train networks also means expanding trade networks throughout states, which in turn will lower emissions.

Furthering an economic point of view, investment in train infrastructure creates thousands of jobs. California’s train line in the Central Valley created 6,000 jobs across 119 miles of construction. Not to mention, these projects bring jobs to disadvantaged individuals in rural areas in America — who have often been neglected by Republicans and Democrats alike. According to the California High Speed Rail Authority, “30 percent of all project work hours are performed by workers from disadvantaged communities where annual household incomes range from $32,000 to $40,000.”

President Biden has seemingly recognized this and invested $66 billion dollars in Amtrak to expand rail services throughout the country. This was the largest bipartisan infrastructure bill since the creation of Amtrak in the early 1970s. According to the White House, the bill “will create good-paying jobs — including union jobs and jobs that do not require a college degree. The projects will grow the economy, strengthen supply chains, improve mobility for residents and make our transportation systems safer for all users.” While this sounds like a solution to my longings for the United States to invest in HSR, the reality is far different. According to UCLA’s director of Luskin Center for Innovation, “we won’t see much of it [the investment] go to high-speed rail.”

So yes, trains are thoroughly invested in, but high speed rail is unfortunately not on the top of America’s list of priorities. While these investments will stimulate the economy by creating jobs, this reality is upsetting for those who recognize the positives of high speed rail. As Steven Zeitchik laid out in the Washington Post, “a high-speed rail United States is a place where people commute regularly from Houston to Dallas; where New York office workers can take a quick hop to their homes in suburban Philadelphia; where Silicon Valley executives can jump on an afternoon train to a studio lot in Hollywood; and where Disney World vacationers can make a dinner jaunt to Ybor City, now just 30 minutes away.” Despite these potential realities, a $10 billion clause to invest in HSR in the recent Build Back Better Act in the House was shut down.

It is disappointing to see the United States continuously veer away from investing in HSR due to political reasons. The market exists and the potential positives are apparent, but the federal government simply cannot follow up on its promise to build effective infrastructure.

Trends: 2010s Rappers have consistently failed at rock albums

BY JACK JERVIS

The Dartmouth

This article was originally published on Feb. 20.

Music is birthed from creativity, as artists capture a specific sound and build off of an aesthetic and style to keep listeners engaged. Genuine skill is required to be a successful artist; pure creativity and passion are not good enough on their own. A true test of an artist’s skill occurs when musicians try to venture across genres. Unfortunately for the hip-hop and rap community, rappers’ attempts at creating rock albums has revealed a lack of crossgenre skill in many musicians.

From the beginning of rap’s existence in the mainstream, influence from other genres of music have expanded rap into various thriving subgenres and revealed how gifted these artists are. Jazz rap — most well known through supergroups De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest — is defined by upbeat horn based production and swing-oriented flows. It has become one of, if not the most popular subgenres of rap. Furthermore, rap music with soul samples and punk aesthetics remain popular with artists such as Madlib, Lauryn Hill and N.W.A. respectively. However, during the 2010s, rappers have moved away from this sampling and begun to create projects that shift genres completely. A modern wave of rappers attempting to create rock albums has become a trend characterized by failure. This trend began with Lil

Wayne’s album, “Rebirth” (2009).

This album, despite including some rap-oriented tracks, was promoted as Wayne’s rock album debut. While the album debuted at the top of many weekly music charts — even peaking at number two on the Billboard charts — critical acclaim of this album was nonexistent. Metracritic, a website that combines data regarding reviews from various art critics in order to give a score out of 100, gave “Rebirth” a mere 37. Other publications and reviewers such as Pitchfork expressed distaste for this album and rated it a 4.5 out of 10. When it came to commercial success, this album did not stay relevant for long: Currently, only three songs from this album are included in Apple Music’s most streamed songs, and even then, they come in low on the list. When one thinks of Lil Wayne, “Rebirth” doesn’t typically come to mind.

A plethora of rappers followed in the footsteps of Lil Wayne over the course of the 2010s, attempting to shift genres and create rock albums. These included Logic’s “Supermarket,” Vic Mensa’s “93PUNX,” G-Eazy’s “Everything’s Strange Here,” Kid Cudi’s “Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven” and many more. These attempts were no more successful than Lil Wayne’s — receiving negative reviews and quickly fading into irrelevance.

The reason these albums perform so poorly is due to the music itself, and “Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven” embodies these vast musical failures. Kid Cudi is a well-respected artist, renowned in the industry as one of

Before the Curtain: Arts on Campus, Week 9

BY BTARI LAKSONO

The Dartmouth

The Leslie Center for the Humanities and Dartmouth Library are sponsoring an exhibition of war posters by Ukrainian artists that will open at 5 p.m. The exhibit, titled “Our Fire is Stronger Than Your Bombs,” is located in the Baker-Berry Brickway. The exhibition will run until March 31 and is free and open to the public.

The Hopkins Center for the Arts will show “RRR,” a Telugu-language feature film starring highly celebrated Indian stars Ram Charan and N.T Rama Rao Jr. The film is a fictional retelling of the story of Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem — Indian revolutionaries who fought to free India from British rule. The showing will take place at Loew Auditorium in the Black Family Visual Arts Center at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for $8 for general admission and $5 for students on the Hopkins Center website.

The Dartmouth theater department is presenting their original play “And Thus They Began, a Decameron” on Feb. 24 and 25. Putting its own spin on Boccaccio’s “Decameron,” the play follows a group of Dartmouth students who tell each other tales and discuss contemporary questions in a dystopian future. Although the event is free, tickets are required and can be reserved on the Hopkins Center website.

The Hood Museum is offering a three-day virtual symposium titled “Terms of Art” from Feb. 22 to 24. The symposium will explore issues of access to cultural heritage and user-centered design in the creation of information systems. The program is free and open to all.

Sawtooth Bar and Kitchen will be hosting a performance by Al’s Pals, a local cover band that features a rotating cast of musicians from the area. Doors to the event open at 7 p.m., and the performance will start at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $5 and can be purchased on Sawtooth’s website.

Saturday, Feb. 25

The Hood Museum of Art is offering an in-person tour of its galleries at 2 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. No registration is required for this event.

The Hopkins Center will show a curated compilation of Oscarnominated animated shorts in the Loew Auditorium at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets may be bought on the Hopkins Center’s website for $8 for general admission and $5 for students. Sawtooth Bar and Kitchen will be

the first mainstream rappers to express vulnerability and discuss mental health in his music. When he came out with “Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven” in 2015, many were shocked with how messy the typically smooth artist’s work was. The result is a mess. The production has little direction and sounds at times like dissonant guitar layered over each other in a random fashion. Cudi’s voice ranges from unenthusiastic and dry to ridiculous and out of control — not even the autotune can make his vocals on pitch either. The music is so disappointing that popular music critic TheNeedleDrop gave this album an incredibly rare 0 out of 10. Through all of this, one thing is very clear: Kid Cudi did not have the tools to make a rock album. This statement can be echoed for all the other albums previously mentioned.

This trend seemed to be a natural progression from the ’90s, with these artists increasing the amount of genre influence in the album to the point that the rap is almost nonexistent. The difference between this trend and its predecessor is the failure that accompanies all these works as opposed to the success of those in the ’90s. Each of these albums flopped commercially, and these artists’ careers are still defined by their rap endeavors alone. Never has a rock crossover strengthened a modern artists’ discography. Importantly, none of these albums have had longevity because they exist as a novelty. Each artist clearly is talented at making rap music, but do not yet have the skills to successfully translate their

creativity into substantive rock albums. From this, it is no surprise that the first mainstream artist to break this trend did so by learning from those who have mastered their craft in rock.

Lil Yachty’s latest album, “Let’s Start Here.” breaks the past narrative that rappers cannot create rock music and show’s hope for the future of genre jumping. As an up and coming voice in the rap scene during the mid 2010s, Lil Yachty’s cheerful attitude and goofy musical style — described as “bubblegum rap” — captivated listeners. As his career progressed, Yachty’s music lost most of the qualities that made him a fresh face in the rap industry in 2016; his overuse of triplet flows and autotune — along with writing about money, sex and drugs that grouped him with artists deemed “mumble rappers” by rap purists — warded listeners away. Yachty’s stream numbers plummeted, with older songs dominating his most streamed list.

Yachty’s new psych-rock journey is a return to form and creativity for him, reflected by the quality of music on “Let’s Start Here.” He pulled on his past success with upbeat instrumentals and let his unique voice take center stage, reaching far into his falsetto on songs such as “sHouLd i B?” and “the ride-.” Yachty also moves away from the “mumble rapper” tropes, diving into personal topics such as his mental health and what home means to him. There is no lack of creativity here, which is to be expected, but what is more surprising is how much focus and cohesivity each track has as an

individual experience.

Yachty appears to have found a way to fix the faults of previously attempted rock albums: collaboration and homage. Yachty interacted with and collaborated with artists who have had past great success creating psychedelic rock music. These include: Jacob Portrait (Unknown Mortal Orchestra), Mac Demarco, Ben Goldwasser (MGMT) and more. Additionally, Yachty closely follows his influences as he debuts this new style, but manages to never sound like a ripoff. This is best exemplified on the first track, “the BLACK seminole.”, a seven-minute opera that pulls from Pink Floyd. With this comes critical acclaim and high streaming numbers, with “Let’s Start Here.” outselling his past two albums in first week sales, despite not including one rap song and Yachty having a majority rap fanbase The idea of rappers creating rock albums seems like a natural progression from the 1990s. Rappers in the past used ideas and elements from other genres to influence their work. As time went on, rappers began incorporating more influence and less rap. This trend continued into the 2010s, when artists fully separated themselves from the hip hop and rap genre for an album. However, what makes this trend interesting is how much these newer albums differed in success from ’90’s rap — seemingly flops, blips on the artist’s rap discography. Lil Yachty’s success on “Let’s Start Here.,” however, gives hope that this pattern may be broken.

hosting a performance by Deep Seize, an electronic fusion duo consisting of Jed Blume and Wyatt Andrews. Doors to the event will open at 8 p.m., and the performance will start at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $5 and can be purchased on Sawtooth’s website.

Sunday, Feb. 26

The Hopkins Center will be showing “The Seagull,” a National Theatre Live play starring Emilia Clarke. The play is a modern take on Anton Chekov’s classic tale of love and loneliness. Tickets may be bought on the Hopkins Center’s website for $8 for general admission and $5 for students.

Monday, Feb. 27

DeWanda Wise, an actress with roles spanning from Kayla Watts in “Jurassic World Dominion” to Nola Darling in Netflix’s adaptation of “She’s Gotta Have it,” will give a closing keynote address in celebration of Black Legacy Month. She will discuss her experiences in the film industry in conjunction with Dartmouth’s Black Legacy Month theme of “Black joy.” The event will take place at 6 p.m. in Cook Auditorium at the Tuck School of Business and is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, Feb. 28

The Dartmouth College Gospel Choir will perform in Rollins Chapel at 8 p.m. Under the guest leadership of Ahmaya Knoelle Higginson, the choir seeks to play old favorites and new music alike. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $8 for students and $5 for Dartmouth students and they can be purchased on the Hopkins Center Website.

Music will grace the walls of the East Reading Room at 12:30 p.m. during this week’s Library Concert. Titled “An Ode to Jam,” performers in this week’s concert include Brandon Abiuso ’23, Quintin George III ’22, Dash PrinceJudd ’23 and Jack Reilly ’24. The event is free and open to the public.

Sawtooth Bar and Kitchen will host Karaoke Bandstand, a family-friendly karaoke night. The event is free and begins at 6 p.m.

Thursday, March 2

Grammy-winning choral ensemble “The Crossing” will perform at Rollins Chapel at 8 p.m. Showgoers will have the opportunity to converse with members of the ensemble following the show. Tickets are $30 for general admission, $18 for students and $10 for Dartmouth students and they can be purchased through the Hopkins Center website.

The Look Ahead: Week 9

BY CAROLINE YORK The Dartmouth Staff

Friday, Feb. 24

The equestrian team (1-4) will travel to the University of Lynchburg (4-3) to compete for the first time since November, beginning at 9 a.m. At 2 p.m., the Big Green will compete against Sweet Briar College (4-2). Dartmouth lost 1-7 to Lynchburg on Sep. 24 and 1-7 to Sweet Briar on Oct. 15.

The ski team will compete in day one of the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association championship in Lake Placid, New York, starting at 9:30 a.m. The team most recently placed second at the Williams Carnival.

Men’s squash (6-8) will travel to Hartford, Connecticut for a matchup against Tufts University (9-7) at 10 a.m. This marks the first day of the Men’s team championships. The team will look to capitalize on the momentum of two recent wins against Williams College and Brown University, both on the road.

Men’s swim and dive (2-7) will continue with day three of the Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships from 11 a.m to 6 p.m. On day one, the team had the second-fastest time in program history in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a 6.29.54.

Beginning at 1:30 p.m., softball will play Florida International University in the team’s season opener. The team will then play the University of Tennessee at Martin at 4 p.m. Last season, the softball team was 20-24 overall.

Baseball will travel to Florida to take on the University of Miami at 7 p.m. Last year, the team ended the season with a .558 win percentage, putting up a season record of 24-19.

Men’s hockey (5-21-1) will compete against Clarkson University (14-14-4) in Potsdam, New York, at 7:30 p.m. The team will look to goalie Cooper Black ’26, who made 25 saves in the last game against Union College, for another strong performance in the net.

Saturday, Feb. 25

Women’s golf will travel to the Peach State to compete in The Ford Invitational at the Ford Field and River Club. From Feb. 11 to 13, the Big Green competed in the Columbia Classic and placed 11th out of 14 teams.

The ski team will compete in day two of the EISA Championship.

Starting at 10 a.m., men’s and women’s track and field will host the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship in Leverone Field House. Men’s and women’s track will count on momentum from the last scoring meet on Jan. 21, when the Big Green bested both Columbia University and Yale University.

Softball will continue its opening weekend with games against Valparaiso University at 11 a.m. and Siena College at 4 p.m.

Men’s swimming and diving will begin day four of the Ivy League Championships in Providence.

Women’s lacrosse (1-0) will play the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (2-1) at noon. The team will look to keep up its winning streak after beating the University of New Hampshire 13-12 in its season opener.

Men’s lacrosse (1-0) will play at Holy Cross College (0-4) at 1 p.m. Last weekend, the Big Green won its season opener 11-10 against Merrimack University.

Men’s squash will continue with day two of the championships, with the time still to be determined.

In Boss Tennis Center, women’s tennis (3-4) will host Long Beach State University (2-2) at home starting at 1 p.m. The team finished the ECAC Indoor Championship on Feb. 12 with a record of 1-2, besting Cornell University and falling to Princeton University and Yale.

Men’s and women’s basketball will both play the University of Pennsylvania. The men’s team (9-17) will travel to Philadelphia to play, while the women’s team (2-24) will host the Quakers at home. Both games begin at noon. The women’s team will seek to break its 17-game losing streak.

Baseball will play its second game against Miami at 7 p.m.

In Canton, New York, men’s hockey will take on St. Lawrence University (16-16-0) at 7 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 26

Women’s and men’s track and field will conclude its winter season with the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship. The first event beginning at 10 a.m.

Men’s tennis (7-3) will host Colgate University (0-6) at 10 a.m. The team will continue play against Boston University (5-4) at 3 p.m. Last Sunday, the Big Green beat Ivy League competitor Brown 4-3.

Men’s squash will continue with day three of the championships with the time still to be determined.

Softball will take on Notre Dame University on the road beginning at 12:30 p.m.

Women’s tennis will travel to Massachusetts to take on Boston University (5-2) at the Winchester Indoor Tennis courts at 1 p.m.

Baseball will play its third game against the Miami Hurricanes at 1 p.m.

Wednesday, Mar. 1

Women’s lacrosse will host Bryant University (1-1) at home at 3:30 p.m.

Powerlifters sets records at New Hampshire state championships

BY ALLISON OHDE

The Dartmouth Staff

Over the past weekend, 10 lifters of the Dartmouth College Powerlifting team competed in the United States Powerlifting Association New Hampshire state championships and four qualified for USPA Nationals — all while breaking over 10 state records.

Powerlifting team president Mustafa Baig ’23, who is a competitive lifter for Pakistan, said it was a collective effort to achieve such a feat.

“It’s a team effort and then going into the state championship and breaking state records is reflective of how hard the team is working,” Baig said.

The championship was held for lifters in two divisions: juniors, defined as ages 21 to 23, and open, ages 23 to 40.

Tanner Jones ’22, one of Dartmouth’s national qualifiers, said that the team recently dialed into the competitive aspect of the sport.

“We just started getting access to train in Floren, and this is the first time we’re doing that,” Jones said. “This is the first year we’ve really started to emphasize the competitive elements.”

Jones won in the 110 kilogram (242.5 pound) weight class at a competition weight of 242 pounds. He set state records in the open division and junior division with a 573.2-pound squat, 287-pound bench press and 557-pound squat. “My third squat attempt, it was a big reach attempt — a 20-pound jump from my previous attempt and was 50 pounds more than what I have attempted in the past,” Jones said.

Jones’s records are impressive, bolstered by his intense training approach.

“In 15 weeks of prep, I performed 926 squats, 884 presses and 306 deadlifts,” Jones said. “My training was a fun experiment with Russian strength methodologies.”

Powerlifting team co-captain Zippy Abraham Paiss ’23 also secured a spot for nationals. Abraham Paiss exceeded the qualifying numbers for her weight class, 52 kilograms, with a combination weight of 290 kilograms — including her squat, deadlift and bench weight –while the qualifying number was 217 kilograms.

“On a personal note, definitely excited to qualify, but it’s just one step in the process… now I can train to not just go to nationals, but to medal at nationals,” Abraham Paiss said.

Abraham Paiss, who leads alongside co-captain Nolan Yee ’25, said she finds coaching to be a rewarding experience that provides another avenue to evolve as a lifter. Abraham Paiss said that she has been lifting for about eight years now and says the Dartmouth team has created “a wonderful community to continue [her] learning experience.”

“We have a male and a female in leadership positions and that was really intentional because powerlifting is historically a very male dominated sport,” Abraham Paiss said. “Last term, the team had three females that would come regularly to practice and now there’s 16 females, which is insane.”

The powerlifting team, which was founded in 2015, has become a support system for many students. Matthew Lamberth ’24, who qualified for junior nationals in the 90 kilogram weight class, said that he appreciates how encouraging the team is of each other.

“When you’re in the gym and you’re about to hit a new personal record,

everyone gathers around, everyone is cheering you on,” Lamberth said.

“Everyone just wants to see everyone else succeed in a way that is more intense than any other team I’ve ever been a part of.”

But cultivating this space has not been without its challenges. The powerlifting team is a club sport, and thus, the team has to handle these aspects independently from Dartmouth. Powerlifting team vice president, Celeste Ulicki ’24 said that the logistic demands can be challenging.

“We have support from the school in terms of there’s a club sports

department and we have people we can go to when we have questions and we have some funding available,” Ulicki said. “We organize all of our needs, we coordinate transit there, we coordinate sleeping there, we coordinate our fundraisers… so I think it is a lot more laborious from an administrative perspective.”

Ulicki added that her fellow executive board members have worked to create a diverse community of lifters on the team.

“I think we’ve genuinely done a good job of creating a space where anyone can feel welcome and entitled to be there

versus your typical, highly masculinized gym environment where the majority of people wouldn’t feel comfortable,” Ulicki said.

Many Big Green lifters secured victories this past weekend. Junior lifters who won their weight classes include Katherine Bramante ’26, Sascha Ries ’24, Bill Zheng ’26 and Chris Eaton ’26. The powerlifting team will be looking forward to USPA nationals in July as well as USAPL nationals in April, a different powerlifting federation.

Tanner Jones is a former member of The Dartmouth’s Opinion staff.

ZOORIEL TAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

When Will You Realize, Your Twenties Wait for You?

STORY

By Selin Hos

This story was originally published on Feb. 22, 2023.

Another year, another birthday.

I turn 20 tomorrow, which feels oh-so strange. After all, what does it really mean to turn 20 — to celebrate two decades of this life that I am living? Each year around my birthday I try to take some time to refect on both the past year and the one going forward. This year, I’ve been rather inspired by the lyrics to Billy

Joel’s “Vienna” and have gleaned a few pearls of wisdom from the song to take with me into my early twenties. If 19 has taught me anything, it is that when life happens, it happens all at once. Some of the chaos is of my own doing — the parties and formals, the homework and classes and all of the rest of the activities that constitute perfectly scheduled student lives. Where things get interesting, however, is when these rigorously organized aspects of

life meet those that are simply out of our control. This is where those great forces — those of love, loss, power and liberty — come into play and the dynamic between you and the world gets all the more overwhelming. And these things happen all the time: Earthquakes reduce cities to rubble, two of your friends fall in love, wars and uprisings erupt around the world and someone you love dearly passes away. These are the things that constitute

our days, the ones that give our lives their context. And there are times when it is all just too much. Much of my time this past year was spent reacting and adapting to these things that just seemed to be happening to me. And as I navigated change and loss, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated — frustrated that I had to be so deeply impacted by what is so outside of my control. It seemed like everything was an impediment on the course of the life I had already planned.

One of my favorite lyrics in “Vienna” is as follows: “Slow down, you’re doing fne / You can’t be everything you want to be before your time.” Life is just funny in that it feels like the more we try to plan, the more the universe only seems to laugh. I get the sense that maybe that’s what it is all about — that maybe there’s very little in this world that we can actually control — and yet we live our entire lives with the illusion that we do.

The notion that things will happen only when the world is ready is so fascinating. I think some of the existential dread that makes birthdays so bittersweet is the sense of running out of time — I know I’m only turning 20, but it still feels like being one year closer to the grave. At 19, I’m guilty of thinking this way myself. But I try to remember that getting older is mainly about new experiences and not necessarily getting my life “fgured out.”

Maybe it’s because I’m turning 20, but this notion that I’ll ever have things fgured out completely feels childish to me now.

At one point in “Vienna” Joel laments, “Where’s the fre? / What’s the hurry about?” I also can’t help but wonder what the hurry is about. What’s the worst that

could happen if we just let that all go?

If we tried living for the sake of living?

I know that’s especially hard to do at a place like Dartmouth, but perhaps the key lies in trusting that things will happen when they are meant to. Perhaps it lies in taking life as it comes — usually in ever-so tumultuous waves.

“Vienna” starts with Billy Joel advising us to, “Slow down you crazy child. . .” Maybe there is some truth to be found in his words. As I say goodbye to my teenage years and embark on the journey that is my early twenties, I take with me the knowledge that being here is a privilege — albeit a chaotic one. I may not know what is in store for me, but I hope that I’ll be able to welcome the good and bad in all of its glory. I hope I can savor the moments that lie ahead, appreciate experiences for what they are and learn that taking it slow may be what is best. Life goes by so quickly as it is. What is the hurry about, Billy Joel?

So here’s to 20 and everything it will bring. I can only hope that it will be a year of laughter, of slow mornings and cups of tea with friends. I hope it’ll be one of positivity, health and healing. Perhaps it’ll be a year of wonder and adventure, and of the lessons that come with these. But if I can ask for one thing for my 20th birthday, it is for a year spent with those that I love. When all is said and done, all that truly remains are the moments we’ve spent loving one another. May this next year be one of loving and loving slowly and loving unconditionally. May this next year be one of peace — one in which we can “take the phone of the hook and disappear for a while.”

Front Desk Shifts: Watching the world pass by

By Noelle Blake STORY

This story was originally published on Feb. 22, 2023.

As far as classic campus fixtures are concerned, Baker-Berry Library is one of the first places that comes to mind for me. From casual conversations with friends in Blobby to hurried assignments in the serious — sometimes stifling — atmosphere of 4FB, we’ve all experienced the many places and “vibes” that the library has to offer. But do we know these spaces as well as we think?

What about other spots on campus?

I pass through the Hood, Collis and Rauner countless times every week, but I can’t tell you the last time I looked around and took notice of what other students were doing there. This is especially true in the end-of-term frenzy that is weeks eight through 10. It got me thinking about who is able to sit back and just observe campus: What’s that like? How’s the view?

Student workers in front desk positions have all the answers. While they’re mostly doing homework, they’re also in a prime position to people-watch and eavesdrop. So I re-explored campus as I asked my peers: What’s it like to sit for a few hours in these spaces?

The answers varied from place to place.

The first desk I visited was the most visible of all: Blobby. But rather than get a sense of what Baker lobby is like at its peak, I spoke to Ayazhan Abdiken ’22 in the hushed lull of the library on a Friday evening. I pulled up a chair beside her, taking in the oddity of a familiar place at a completely unfamiliar time.

Behind the desk in Blobby, Abdiken said that things are mostly smooth compared to the tasks of other campus jobs.

“Most of the time, I just work on my homework,” she said. The lingering students peppered throughout the lobby must have shared her sentiment. “The work at the circulation desk can get busy sometimes. Depending on which desk you’re at, tasks differ.”

Given the demanding nature of her other commitments, Abdiken says that working the front desk serves as a respite.

“I’m a teaching assistant, which is basically like taking a fourth course,” she said. “It’s been more than a year since I took the course, so it’s like learning everything from scratch.”

Working in Blobby gives Abdiken a chance to keep up with her work, while also earning a little extra money.

Abdiken also noted that people who work at the Blobby desk are some of the first resources that visitors turn to when they’re not accompanied by a tour guide.

“It’s really nice to be able to help people when they’re first coming to the College,” she said. As we sat behind the desk together, I observed the chandelier from an angle I’d never seen before. Facing out and seeing the checkered floor stretch across the expanse of the lobby, I understood the appeal. Blobby is a central part of campus life, and it’s only enhanced by the friendly face behind the counter as you walk through its front doors.

Shifts at front desks around campus typically range from two to four hours, and the atmosphere of each space on campus affects the kind of shifts that students work.

According to Bilan Aden ’25, working the Collis front desk has its perks.

“There are a lot of moments where people that I haven’t really gotten to know come up to me and introduce themselves,” Aden said. “It’s a nice way to catch up with people and say ‘hi.’”

Collis desk workers also act as a resource to students for virtually every scenario. Are you bored and looking for something to do with friends? They have games for rent. It’s pouring out and your backpack isn’t waterproof? They have umbrellas.

“People interact on many levels, whether it’s studying, eating or catching up,” Aden said.

I could tell as much. Throughout our conversation, the constant buzz of chatter from students throughout the building served as soothing white noise. The space felt alive, like a gentle reminder of the non-stop motion of college life.

I left the building feeling brighter, as if my visit to Collis had been during the refreshing midday rather than the beginnings of a cool evening. The night air centered me again as I made my way across the Green to the library once again. Through the back entrance and down the stairs, I found myself surrounded by the deep blues and vibrant reds of the Orozco Mural Room.

Julia Draves ’23 also works at various desks throughout Baker-Berry. When I talked to her, she was behind the broad arc of the Orozco desk. She seemed to enjoy the quiet compared to the business that sometimes accompanies the other front desks. We mostly spoke in whispers, trying our best not to

KELLY BEAUPRE/THE DARTMOUTH

CAROLINE KRAMER/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF